PPGD: The First War
by Birdofterror
Summary: (Story 3 in the Chronometal Universe) "This is... the First Chronometal War." - Bubbles, speaking to an old friend about the end of the world. The First War is a prequel in the Chronometal Story, taking place before most other parts, but after PPGD. In it, great splendor and calamity find equal home. Old friends, new enemies, everyone shows up to face down the Beginning of the End.
1. Chapter 0: First War Recap

**Credit Note:** _Use of the base characters such as Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, Dexter, and others are credited to Cartoon Network and their subsidiaries. Use of Barasia is credited to Griddles, use of Bell is credited to Bleedman, use of Mekel (If he's in this specific story: I forget) is credited to Eclipse02._

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 **Author's Note:** _Before the story even begins, I must point out that this isn't NEW content. This is a recap, piecing together the bits of the First War from the original story (Story 1: The Chronometal Wars) This part, if you already remember all of the parts from the first story, is actually just a reminder, and can actually be skipped to Chapter 1 if you're comfortable._

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 **FIRST WAR RECAP**

 _Sub-Chapter 1: Before the War_

The date is June 20th, 2002... soon, the first Chronometal war will scar the world. But until then: a lone scientist is in a strange lab several layers of earth beneath Megaville.

"Everything is here... but...!" He slams his hand against a desk. "The catalyst is... nearly impossible to find! I tried boosting the combination process itself, but without a strong enough soul it just won't WORK!" He hits the desk again! He leans against the desk with his elbow and places his fingers to his eyes, deep in distraught thought...

" *Sigh...* I didn't come this far just to fail, there has to be SOMETHING... SOMEWHERE. A soul strong enough to both withstand the binding process and then provide enough feedback power to not only support itself in the chamber, but create abundant energy for things like... movement and speech. But how?!" He looks at scattered notes strewn across the table in front of him.

"If my notes are correct- in which I have full confidence; The stronger the emotions of the dead human, especially that of hate and love- the stronger the energy... but other emotions like jealousy and pride... they too are more than acceptable." He keeps going through the papers, sure he has done this exact thing way too many times...

"The problem is knowing who expressed ALL of these emotions right before their death! Perhaps... a death caused by a... battle fueled, by a loved one? That has anger, jealousy and love... but no pride! After all, the person needed to die, first. Why be proud in death?" He darts his eyes around the room and gives off an innocent smile... "Maybe a... Spartan?" He chuckles slightly at his own joke and looks around the room- he is alone...

"*SIGH!*"

"C'mon, Mike! You can do this, I can do this- just... think about it more, look around, there HAS to be something I'm missing..." He scratches his head... then he scratches more... then his teeth grit and he nearly rips his scalp off! In his furious fit he scatters papers around- "Oh! Damn!" He leans over to pick them up, but then he stops...

The papers are all aligned in certain phrases side by side...

-Relative killed, causes sadness and anger. Especially a brother or sister and-  
-Lover is killed, causes sadness and anger- possible jealousy if the lover was-  
-Also; with unfairness. Unfairness, usually in death means unfair advantage with-  
-Being killed by their own hands, an accident perhaps? Self loathing and Sadness.-  
-Causing depression, but not just depression- Anger, the lust for revenge! And in-  
-Their own hands they wrought their own death. But it was a just death. Or he thought-  
-So at least; I've established that teenagers, with their new found emotions are the best catalyst.-

"Wait... that... situation..." He thinks to himself deeply about the circumstances of his hypothetical situation...

"The catalyst killed someone's... brother or sister- possibly a rival's... but It was also his, Lover? And it was an... accident... Causing depression? Then anger... forced him into battle... with the rival? And it... Killed him, but right before his death- he felt proud of himself..." His eyes widen! "Y-YES! That has it all! Hate, Love, Anger, Sadness, Self loathing, Jealousy, Envy!"

He puts his finger to his lip and goes into deep thought... He gets off the chair and runs to the next room and accesses his large Computer. "The only people I might think be able to pull of this kind of messed up charade is a late adolescent, Maybe fifteen or sixteen years old... maybe male and completely dominated by his emotions; time to check the obituaries... AGAIIIIIIIN..." In the past year only 3 males of that age group have died in Megaville city... the names are as follows.

-Victor Clausewitz-  
-John Peach-  
-Susan Astronomonov-

"Susan? I'm sure I checked it into 'Male Only,' Let me just fix that..." He double checks the configuration and runs the scan again and he shows up yet again. "Hmm, interesting..." He clicks the name and it shows the face of a young man, Black hair, Glasses and an obviously devilish background, just from looking into his eyes...

"That name... Astronomonov... it sounds so familiar... but- no time to dawdle!" He says to himself, moving to the next step.

"A name like Susan might also cause shame... Yet another negative emotion..." He prints out a picture of the young man and the residence of his living parents. "Time to check in to see if this is worth another $50,000 of materials..." He walks out of the lab, carrying with him only a small waist-bag.

(Several Hours of travel Later...)

He is a safe distance away from the house of the young man; Susan. Simply by looking at the house and it's presentation, it is clear the parents have a strong tie to nature... not just a love for animals- as a lot of people interpret, but their entire front yard is the perfect habitat for certain squirrels and hummingbirds. They didn't even skimp out with imitation bird feeders shaped like flowers, it is truly plants filled with nectar that they nursed themselves... "Cute."

A short girl, probably no older than thirteen with pigtails the color black catches his eye. "Same hair color, young age... standing by." She walks by the house and he cancels his mental note, but then she walks into the yard and starts tending to one of the flowers. After a few moments she rises from the grass and nears the door. "Bingo..." He runs across the street and yells; "Hey little girl! Wait up!" - "Huh...?"

His only fear of the meeting would be she would run away, but she does not. "Who are you, Guy?" - "I've come to ask a few questions about your... umm... Brother..." She looks away from his words, clearly hurt. "I-I didn't mean to-" - "It's fine... It's just, you are probably one of the only people who asked about him..." - "Oh, I see." - "What questions..."

The scientist of blue hair speaks up- "This may seem oddly direct, but how exactly did he die?" She looks up at his eyes, not with teary eyes like that of someone reliving a horrible tragedy, but of suspicion... "Why...? Who are you?" - "My name is Micheal and I study... the afterlife- cutting my profession short with your well-being in mind." - "Afterlife? Like... paranormal? Ghosts and stuff?" - "Not exactly, mine is much more science based..." - "And you need to know about my brother and more specifically, his death; why?"

The blue haired scientist looks around, making sure no-one is in sight- or earshot. "I think I..." He looks around once more... "I may be able to bring him back-" The girl clenches her fists, seemingly in anger and turns away from the man. "Go away... I have nothing to say to heartless assholes like you who would mess with people's emotions..." He grabs her arm and turns her around, as she is all around he grabs her right hand with both of his hands.

"I promise you, this is no ruse little girl, I am truly onto something ground-breaking... world-changing! And I need to know everything about your brother and his death!" She tugs her hand away from his grasp, but tolerates his presence more... "How." - "Come again?" - "How will you bring him back?" - "The power of the best science the world has yet to see!" The girl looks away, seemingly wounded by the words. "Science huh...? ... One condition..." - "Okay, what?"

She looks over to his blue eyes; he is still knelled down and at eye-level with her. "If it has to do with my brother, I see everything." The man gulps and looks in her eye... he has dealt with children before in his long quest for the perfect soul, but none were nearly this... inquisitive... or persuasive. "V...Very well..." He rises from the ground. "But I have my own condition." - "Oh yeah? What?" - "You tell me exactly how he died, where he died, who killed him; if he was murdered and why."

"It's a deal."

(Several hours of travel and talking later.)

"So, he went by the name, Mandark? Because he met some geeky kid who insulted his name one day? And he never dropped it? Seems pathetic, yet at the same time it seems perfect..." - "That's my brother for you..." She says holding a coffee mug to her lips, unknown whether or not there is anything in it, but as she sets it down- it certainly sounds like she is drinking something... black. Coffee perhaps?

"So you still never told me exactly what you are going to do with this information- let alone how you are going to help me get my brother back..." - "All in due time, but there's no time like the present- so let's get started!" She raises an eyebrow, as if she was expecting it to be a bit more... subtle...

They walk into the other room and everything seems prepared, some odd antennae are sticking out every which-way and there is some strange material on a nearby shelf. "What's that?" - "Nano-steel, incredibly dense without adding too much weight- but more important than that... It is incredibly flexible." - "What's that got to do with anything? Are you making a robot?" - "Not exactly..."

He flicks several switches and then the unexpected happens. "You're up." - "... ... ... Huh?" The scientist looks at her. "Usually when I get information on a soul I have the relative give me something treasured to them that reminds them of the dead, in your case... you are that treasured item." - "O-Okay, what do I have to do?" - "Simply walk onto that disk you see on the floor and picture Susan in your mind." She timidly walks toward the pad, once she is on it she turns around to face the blue scientist.

She closes her eyes and goes into deep thought, her body language gradually shifts from a neutral stance; arms at both sides... to a more emotional state, her hands grabbing each other at the chest... "Yes, it's working, don't stop..." Heavy electric noises go on in the background, the scientist thinks it may impair her thinking, but in fact- the machine is actually powering up; is the noise of loud electric equipment nostalgic to her? Does it help her remember Susan?

A glowing figure appears in the chamber next to the girl- "Yes, YES! I've only ever gotten this far once! But it failed a couple seconds forward! This could be it!" A deep rumbling goes on, the place is shaking- he is sure that this will ruin her concentration, but to the contrary it is yet going up! 'Did... did he die in a way that makes a deep rumbling noise? Is that what she is remembering...?' He thinks to himself.

He looks at the machine, the figure is almost human looking, he looks upon it as if he is seeing the face of the almighty... But then the readings go down, they spike very fast! "N-NO, NOT NOW! DAMMIT! I'M NOT GOING TO GET ANOTHER SHOT AT THIS!" He frantically presses whatever buttons he finds, but before he can even do that he hears a foreign noise behind him.

"Move aside." He looks over and in shock, it is a young girl, dressed in black, carrying a pair of broken glasses. He obliges, knowing it is hopeless to continue trying to salvage the situation... He slumps out of the room, knowing what is going to happen... inevitable failure...

The Black girl nears the girl in pigtails, she grabs her hands and loosens her grip and puts the glasses in... "S...Susan..." She lets out quietly. The room eventually stabilizes, but the noise of nothing all but causes the scientist to fall and weep and the Black girl come walking out. She nears him and lets out stiffly; "Your task is complete. Claim the soul." He looks up to meet her words, seemingly breathless. He runs to the room!

The girl is sitting on the pad, holding a pair of glasses in her hands and the machine has a fully functioning Catalyst. "Th-There's no way..." He runs to his desk and punches in a few commands and the soul leaves the chamber and into a different chamber. "Th-This is it!" The small girl looks up at him, she quietly get up and walks to see what he is talking about...

She views the small metal device with sadness... "W...What is it...?" - "Susan."

The strange girl who appeared from nowhere looks to them with no emotion in her eyes. She nears him and extends four small balls in her hand. One orange, one purple, one green and one blue. He looks over and takes them and asks a single question. "Who are you?" - "I am the Black Mother, the birth giver to all Chronometals." - "Ch-Chronometals?" - "What you see before you on the desk, the fruit of your research will bring upon the world an ultimate power."

His eyes widen as she continues to speak. "Those four balls are catalysts... souls, that you can also use to form something that syncs to that Chronometal... They are called Biosymbiotes; and they are the key to Ultimate Power, although, they themselves are very weak in power." The scientists eyes squint as she continues... "Use them as you see fit, the rest is up to you." - "W-Wait! Why are you doing this?"

"It is in my knowledge that what your research carries with it is exactly what I've wanted all my life. You can fill in the blanks of my reason yourself as you see necessary." She walks away, as cryptic as ever. The man views the balls he was given and the metal object before him...

"This is it, everything I worked for is finally possible... Now, it is time for action!"

The Girl with the Pigtails eyes her new-found cohort; it seems they are bound for life... "I've never asked for your name yet, what is it, little girl?" - "Just call me Astro, I don't care for my name... or any nickname I've earned in the past."

 **-Several Years Later-**  
 **(After my Game involving The Three)**

 _ **(If you're curious, I made an RPGmaker game about my story. It was rather short and ignored. It covered what the story knows as "The Three." If you're curious, send me a PM or review, and I'll respond.)**  
_

 _Chronometal Wars Chapter 3_  
 _Turning Point in Fate_

The sound of machinery clicks, whirs and beeps in the background... Not a soul in sight, though this area is suited to such a defiant existence... Primitive robots tend to the essential upkeep of the machinery here, though it is in perfect repair. The air in this place is kept a steady 71*, the ideal setting for Dexter.

The sound of a wrench tightening a bolt into place is as common as the quiet, it seems he is always working on something new- in or out of the lab. However, a noise is heard off to the distance... one he hasn't heard in a long time. A long, loud and invasive siren has been echoing down the labyrinth, drowned out only by the sound of fevered footsteps at a fast pace.

"Computer, status report!" Dexter yells as he runs down the endless halls. "Accessing... Dexter, a large energy surge is occurring right outside the town of Megaville. It is steadily growing in power, radius and heat and will; considering it does not stop growing; consume, burn and obliterate all of Megaville." Dexter continues down the hall, almost at his favorite chair!

He jumps as he lands in the computer chair, spinning in it once and moving himself to the keyboard. The sound of keys being hit are also common, though not usually at this speed. "Hmm, so it's right there eh? Better call Blossom... Computer, send a priority one emergency message to the Powerpuff Girls,and continue scans on the anomaly and notify me of any changes!"

He then catches himself in mid thought: "Computer, where did this energy source come from? What is it?" - "Dexter, it seems to of come from the base of the northern Megaville mountains. A large amount of electrical interference can be felt from there, which opens the possibility of electronic devices present. As for what it is: that is unknown as of now."

As he continues his work on his report of the energy source, another- more pressing alarm goes off! "Dexter, many mechanical beings are less than a mile from the lab and closing at a 15 Mph speed." - " What? How many?" - "Scanning... ... 851 and two larger mechanical tank-like devices." - "Where did they come from? Who's robots are they?!" - "Unknown."

"Computer, did you send the message to Blossom?" - "Affirmative." Dexter wastes no time; he enters a command into the computer panel that will cause 99% of the lab to become virtually impregnable. But right before he can put in the final code, an explosion goes off near the Lab wall! As he puts in the code, the lab goes into a constricted and highly defended state, except the area where the explosion went off is malfunctioning and will not lock down!

"Computer get repair bots over to the hole and repair it as fast as possible, priority one!" - "Understood." The air is buzzing with energy and stress, alarms are going off and the lab itself is flashing red and white! Robots divert their constant duties to the hole in the wall and work at an electric pace, clearing the immediate area of rubble and debris...

They are coming...

"Time minus one minute to mechanical confrontation." Dexter is scanning the area and making calculations... "Robots times immediate repairing material divided by one minute... plus robots to make it here by that time..." He does calculation body language, but it doesn't add up. "Ergh... dangit it won't work! There's not enough time!"

"Time minus 20 seconds to mechanical confrontation, exercise caution Dexter." Dexter climbs a ladder to his armory; he's not losing his lab without a fight. "Computer, initiate robot defense mode omega strategy, blockade that hole!" - "Yes, Dexter." The first robot makes it in and Dexter's robots use whatever tools available, be it a repairing torch or a stray stone to attack it.

As he digs through his only weapon cache, he can hear the battle just yards away, it starts off tame, but as more robots make it in the sounds are nearly cacophonous. Armed now with his laser blade, plasma rifle and energy shielding, he runs to the catwalk overlooking the gaping wound in his lab!

He flicks a switch on his vest and a blue haze envelops him as he arms his plasma rifle and fires with pinpoint accuracy at the increasingly numerous robots! The lab's own tenders are being torn to shreds by large beetle-like robots with almost impossible blade sharpness! They are making it in almost as fast as they can walk!

"Computer, where are the Powerpuff Girls?!" - "Scans are not picking them up within a one mile radius." That comment sends a shiver down Dexter's spine, he won't be able to hold his lab- or his life out very long, if they aren't on their way he might not make it, or worse... he will have to flee his one and only working lab.

One after another, the robots fall and one after another, the robots advance, ignoring Dexter due to his high-ground advantage. They are ignoring his machinery, give or take a scan and they continue into the womb of his life's work. "Die you abominations of science!" He continues his assault on the machines, but the entire floor is blanketed in a writhing dark-chrome color that is the robot invasion!

His rifle is now out of ammo and he is left with both going back and restocking, or jumping down and beam-sabering them! Dexter's inner rage forces him down the ladder and onto one of the robots, he takes out his beam-blade and stabs it into the core of the machine, ending it instantly. Though he is now on par with the robots, they continue to completely ignore him.

He is destroying them at a much slower pace than he normally would, but now it seems the robots have all made it in... "Computer, Powerpuff girls, NOW!" - "They are within 4000 feet of this lab and closing." - "Thank Einstein..." Dexter follows the robot beetles into his own lair, but stops as a grizzly noise is heard only a few yards away.

The sound of a large vehicle is approaching, fast and Dexter remembers that the computer scanned two large tank-like mechanical objects approaching. Dexter is at his wit's end, over 500 robots are still functional and running rampant through his lab and titans approach to do god-knows-what. The large tank is now creeping into the hole, though it is immediately apparent that it is too large.

It continues in as if the wall never existed- breaking it to dust as it moves. Dexter merely stands there in the shadow of the great construct, Sword in hand- with no hope of rescue. But just as all hope leaves Dexter's form, a sonic boom can be heard just outside the lab and just after that the tank stops moving in its tracks, only a few feet from Dexter.

A red haze fires through one of the cracks in the wall. "Dexter, are you okay?!" Dexter looks up and meets the only consolation to his doomed situation, the leader of the Powerpuff Girls: Blossom! "F... fine and you?" She fires down and picks up Dexter in her protective arms. "Just swell, let me get you out of here!"

As she leaves through the crack she came in, they catch a sight of Buttercup, the green Powerpuff Girl holding the tank in place as Bubbles, the blue Powerpuff Girl, standing in place with a large Blue aura around her. "Don't worry, they will take care of it, lets get you to the professor to cure your paralysis." She smiles wryly as Dexter merely nods...

*Several hours pass...*

The Powerpuff's humble abode on the outskirts of Megaville is jumping with energy now that the two other girls make it back home and Dexter scrambles for every grim detail of his lab. The green one speaks up. "Well it wasn't too much trouble to break the things, but what was all of that anyway? That wasn't the reason we came." Dexter's face shows confusion for a short moment and he snaps back into reality.

"Oh that's right! The energy reading!" Dexter lets out now that he remembered the very reason he called the Girls. The blue girl says playfully: "Well we would of checked it out if there weren't two big tanky things crushing the neighborhood, so we went to your lab to see if it was you... unlikely but still possible right?"

Dexter called the girls to investigate the anomaly roughly ten seconds from the proximity alarm, if he called them any later he would of been... well- crushed. "Well I'm glad you guys came when you did, I'm gonna head back to the Lab and check the damage." - "By yourself? Are you sure?" Bubbles let out worried. "Thanks but you guys did enough, I can take it from here... Hmm..." Dexter looks around the room before he leaves the house.

"Where's Blossom?" He asks. Footsteps can be heard going down the stairs. "She said she was going to take a shower real quick." It's the professor, he walks to the door and escorts Dexter out. "Thank you for the pick-me-ups Mr. Utonium, see ya." Dexter then walks off into the distance toward his possibly non-existent Lab.

The hour is Nine, the rest is not important; It's dark is the point. Dexter walks down the sidewalk, eyes to the ground, deep in thought having traveled this way many times before he needs not look to make it to his lab, but he hits a road block not even half way. He looks up to see the commotion, the towns-folk are yelling, talking, screaming and just plain making noise just up ahead. No doubt from the panic of tonight's events.

The town police: which Dexter has a deep brotherhood with, block the people from passing this point. Dexter makes it to the front of the line, without exchanging so much as a sight lock the yellow tape is risen and Dexter passes. "So it wasn't just my lab eh?" Dexter says before leaving the police line.

"Nah, the entire block this'way down's been c'pletely flattened Dex." The moonlight reflects off the bits of metal strewn across the streets and wreckage of the houses... Dexter continues down, sure his Lab has met the same fate. His mind-etched route, now changed causes Dexter to become a little more careful and slow with his steps, his lab is more than a good five miles away.

His mind wanders into corners he would rather not venture again...

A long time ago Dexter met in combat with his arch-rival; Mandark. This battle- fueled over the death of Dexter's sister and Mandark's love; Deedee, caused a lot of death and destruction on both sides, but Dexter had a net-win... being the only one of the battle to come out alive. Just after Deedee's death, Dexter was traumatized and created an android that looked just like her... it was made of donated human organs and a Nanosteel frame: virtually indestructible...

It was the epitome of everything Dexter never wanted as a scientist... it was an abomination and he knows that his sister would despise the device, yet he created it... and kept it: forevermore. Why? Not even he knows...

His house, just a few yards away catches Dexter's eye, most of it is untouched... partly because this was once his lab, but is no longer. He created a second lab after... Deedee's passing... in secret inside his school in Megaville and used his old, destroyed lab as a shortcut to the new lab- should the need arise. This was not the main target of the machines; therefore the house... and his family within were left unharmed.

He enters the house, greets his worry-struck parents and heads to his room. Moving a book, the entire bookcase moves to show a ruin... his old lab, his foul... horrible... guilt-struck and deathly feeling carcass of an old lab... He does not intend to stay here longer than he needs, so he runs to the Ver-tram and fires into his new lab quickly...

The long ride gives him time to think... but all these things, his lab being destroyed and him being in his old destroyed lab... him almost dying... nearly brings Dexter to tears. All the memories he has tried so hard and long to keep from resurfacing and ruining his NEW life are coming back all at once and it brings Dexter to his knees and he takes off his Glasses...

Dexter sighs as he fights back the tears, his head angled straight up in an attempt to stop them from inadvertently rolling down his cheeks. He closes his eyes, the sliding pressure forces them out and he cant stop it, he falls to the floor and cries...

and cries...

For minutes... he cries and he can find no release, this isn't the only- first- or last time he wishes or will wish that he was dead... all of this pain and suffering and death because of him... because of his past. The things he has done, the people he has harmed-

"Damn it all Dexter, forget this... please!" He says to himself over and over again, but he cant seem to break the cycle... He punches the floor of the Ver-tram as it makes its next and final turn to his new lab. Lights flash up above through the glass ceiling of this mobile room. He gets up from the floor and leans on a corner.

Dexter sighs and sniffs, he can't handle this anymore... but when he seems to just about snap she comes to the rescue again... "Dexter? Is that you or a recording?" Dexter's eyes light up, he looks around and sees a camera in the corner of the moving tram. He rubs his eyes frantically in an attempt to cover his sorrow.

"Y...yeah, its me, Blossom... not a recording..." - "Oh... good... I came to your lab after I heard you left, I can see you from this screen, where are you?" Dexter sighs. "Coming to you Blossom..." Blossom nods to herself. "Okay, I'll be waiting for you..."

As she leans on his giant computer, the chair right in front of her shoots sideways as the floor itself opens up and a large cylindrical- glass object raises from the floor. A door slides open to show Dexter, he lunges out and hugs Blossom. "E-EH?! A...are you okay Dexter?" He says nothing, he clings to his entire world and doesn't let go. Blossom stays still for a minute and then hugs back...

If she hadn't come at that moment...

Dexter lets go of Blossom after a short while. "Thank you for everything Blossom, I needed to hear your voice to put things back into perspective..." He looks up at the ceiling of his Lab. "I just need to keep going for Deedee's sake-" He looks at Blossom. "And for my sake, I need you." Blossom nods. "Want to take a look around now?"

Dexter snaps out of his negative/positive spiral of emotions and stands up straight. "Yeah, lets see the damage..." They walk down the lab's halls... 2-A, 2-B, 2-C... They reach the index and the same destruction is apparent in every room, the robots were looking for something. As they come to a fork in the lab they decide to split up, Dexter heading down the continued index, Blossom into the heart.

Dexter utilizes voice activated wall conduits to keep in continuous contact with Blossom. "Find anything that they might of taken yet?" - "No, I'll keep looking." They both continue their boring jobs. Dexter passes into the final index after some time, all the rooms have been ransacked and over half the inner lab has been combed. "I didn't find anything on my half of the lab; I'll head to the mouth and see what's up, Dex." Dexter looks back, it's gonna be a long walk...

As if Dexter needed more time alone, he continues by himself, down the shattered remains of his labyrinth. "Computer, status report." - "Over 30% of the lab has been misplaced, moved, destroyed or in any way affected by the foreign robots." 30% is a very large amount, almost six square miles of machinery as well as spanning several floors; it will take Dexter months of 'uninterrupted' work to repair it.

Dexter passes the time walking down his now apparently too big Laboratory by making calculations. Thirty Percent of 33,450 square feet, most of which are delicate machinery or holding cells for past inventions... Helper bots destroyed, total repair rate reduced by 98.5%. Total time estimate to total repair: 6 months, assuming he spends 6 hours a day repairing. He sighs.

His mental train of thought crashes into a mental 'wall' with a worried Blossom blasting her voice through the intercom. "Dexter! Come to the front of your lab now! Something IS missing!" Dexter thinks about what could possibly be at the fro-

His eyes widen and Dexter runs off as fast as he ever has down to the entrance of the lab!

As Dexter runs down his lab, he keeps thinking to himself about his most guilt-stricken invention ever devised, the one placed at the maw of his lab. He makes a sharp turn causing the rubber in his boot to smoke as a squeaking sound echoes down the halls, before the echoes of running are once again heard.

He pants wildly, as if things couldn't get any worse, he slips several times and corrects himself before he falls, but he loses his balance and he then lands on pieces of metal left from the Robots. "Ahhg...!" The very sound of that causes a sonic boom to echo throughout his lab. As he rises to his knees and holds his arm in pain, Blossom shows up and airlifts him to his medial lab.

A few agonizing moments later, medic-bots are tending to his arm, riddled with metal shards and toxic waste. "Th...Thanks Blossom- Oww..." Blossom stares at him a moment, deep in thought. Dexter stares back, considering that she is probably finding the words to use regarding the missing machinery in the front of his lab.

She opens her mouth, but quickly closes it and goes back to thought. Some moments pass before Dexter breaks the silence- "Is she gone...?" Blossoms eyes weaken, now she is trying to find other words. "Yes Dexter, she is gone." Dexter lets out a deep, wrenching sigh. He closes his eyes and lays his head back against the surgery-bay's pillow.

Blossom turns her back and sits on the stool next to the bed. Dexter looks over, seeing only her red hair and deeper red bow. "Blossom...?" She turns her head around curiously. "Do you think that something really bad is going to happen?" Blossom ponders the question a bit, but then he speaks again. "Mandark is gone, but for some reason, I found his beetle bots in my lab earlier..."

Blossom quickly responds. "Do you think that someone is using his lab?" Dexter inches off of his back to lean on the pillow, causing a medic-bot to made all sorts of noise. Without breaking his sight on Blossom he pushes a button on the droid to cause it to go silent again as he continues. "Its very possible, but I'm not sure who, or why anyone would want to take them over and send an assault on my lab and take out some of Outer Megaville too."

Blossom goes over a list of villains she has seen over the years, the most reasonable choice would be Mojo-Jojo, but he has never shown his face since she moved to Megaville. "I think I know someone who might of done it, perhaps someone followed me from Townsville." He jumps off the bed and reaches for a syringe and some medicine.

"What are you doing Dexter?" Blossom asks as she rises from the stool. "Packing a shot of stim and going to Mandark's old lab." - "But you aren't better yet!" - "No, not completely- but all of the shards are out of my arm and the bandage is set. It's gonna get better on its own, but I'm packing stim just in case." Blossom scoffs and rushes to his side. "Dexter, what if someone IS at Mandark's lab, don't you think going there alone is... very VERY stupid?!"

"Well I'm not going to argue that its not a thing a man of science would do, but I'm not going alone." He looks her in the eye. "I'm gonna call on an old friend." He walks out of the pale-white operating room as the Medic-bots go into standby; Blossom in close pursuit.

He reaches the heart of the Lab where he sits on his computer chair and boots it up. "Man, I hope this thing still works..." The computer loads up successfully and Dexter blushes slightly. He thinks to himself- "Oh, man... I forgot my desktop is a big picture of Blossom in her two-piece!" Without ever making eye contact he keeps perfectly natural as he accesses the internet.

"Was that me at the beach with you and Olga?" Blossom giggles slightly at Dexter's awkward body language as he fidgets in his chair. He coughs, as he accesses his account. As he imprints his password, Blossom looks at the keyboard in pure curiosity to catch the password through sight memorization, just for fun.

But to her amazement his fingers moves extremely fast: even for her and before she knows it there's a 47 digit password punched in. Among his... rather small friend's list- is one who is still online. Dexter clicks it to enter into chat.

(Wizkid says: Hey coop, you still on?)

After a short delay...

(Lordofthelargepants says: yeah big man, whas on yer mind?)  
(Wizkid says: I'm going to need Megas again.)  
(Lordofthelargepants says: whaaaat? wy?)  
(Wizkid says: I need to check out Mandark's Lab.)  
(Lordofthelargepants says: yo mean that geek wit the giant bee robo?)  
(Wizkid says: Yes, but not the same place Coop.)  
(Lordofthelargepants says: i dont meen to be unsensitiv ,but isnt he ded?)  
(Wizkid says: Yes, well, maybe. I'm not sure; I just know I was attacked today by his robots.)  
(Lordofthelargepants says: forreel? well i supose i can help you again.)  
(Wizkid says: Thanks Coop, you are a lifesaver.)  
(Lordofthelargepants says: you no it!)  
(Wizkid says: In case you forgot my address, here I am- the sooner the better coop, I may be a dead man tomorrow.)

He punches in a file and sends it to his friend and he exits out of the program, causing another short slip of Blossoms beach image to fly across the screen before he forces the computer off. "Well that's that, He will be here in a couple hours, by then it will almost be daytime... you should head home." - "I'm a superhero too Dexter, I'll come with you!" Almost as if he was hoping for those words, his face lights up a bit. "Thanks Blossom..."

He turns away and heads into a part of the lab. Blossom asks curiously- "What are you doing?" - "Getting supplies" But as soon as he starts walking, his intercom lets out a loud static! When it breaks a voice can be heard coming from it- "Attention Megaville! Attention Megaville! This is not a drill; there are Unknown Flying Objects and mechanical things of unknown origin running wild in the Suburbs! Be sure to get to a safe location and/or seek the police and await further instructions!"

The intercom loops after that endlessly as Dexter and Blossom locks eyes and a seemingly constant low-pitch rumbling is heard, as if it was an elephant stampede. Something really bad is going to happen...

 **-Shortly After-**

 _Chronometal Wars Chapter 6_  
 _The First War_

The two of them scurry around for supplies before one of them lets out:

"We're going, Blossom!" - "Of course, I'll be waiting for you, I'll see if I can save whoever is in danger... or see what it is the danger actually is..." Blossom and Dexter eye each other. "It's just another day, Blossom- we will be fine..." She nods sheepishly and flies off at high speed. Dexter thinks to himself: "Alright, Coop will be here soon- come to think of it, my timing was really great on that note."

High above the buildings, Blossom can see a few small machine-like things floating and moving over the city, she flies down to get a better look- and to her dismay, they are chasing down towns-folk from Megaville. She rushes at the machines and takes one in each hand- then smashes them together. "Dust to dust... you guys alright?" - "Y-yes, thank you Blossom!" - "Head to Megaville elementary, you will be safe there!" And with that: she flies off toward central Megaville, the sun breaking through the night sky, it is almost day-time. It has been one hell of a night...

"Okay, all set!" Dexter straps in his beam-saber and loads his electro-pistol. He walks out of the lab and he notices several frightened people flooding into the school. He thinks deeply about what is best for the endangered populous... "Look's like privacy is no longer an issue..." Dexter says to himself. He rushes down the halls to meet the people. "B-Blossom said we would b-be safe here?" - "Yeah, follow me over here; there's... uh... a bunker set here!" - "In... a school?" - "Don't ask questions- just come!"

"What's happening?" - "Oh, Blossom! Great timing- we don't know what these things are, or where they came from, but they've already totaled several police vehicles and wounded nearly a hundred people!" - "So just smash 'em?" - "That's been the plan for now- and getting the civilians to safety!" Blossom flies off, toward the core of the city- which is now blocked off at certain points.

"Fancy bunker..." A seemingly dim blonde civilian says as Dexter leads them into his 'formerly' secret lab. "Yeah, well with all the superheroes and super-villains nowadays not even schools can be 'TOO' cautious." - "Well I guess that's true..." Dexter chuckles slightly- not knowing why he is insisting on keeping his lab a secret... "I'll lead you into the deepest part- where no-one can get to you unless they know exactly what this place is; and where to go!"

Blossom strikes several flying machines into each other- causing small scale explosions and removing their threat- but she looks down in horror at the sight she sees. Massive machines- shaped like worms drilling through the road and earth as if it were swimming in water. She flies down and rams into a worm head-on, but it doesn't to much more than move the worm a few inches away from where it once was. She decides to ignore the worm and focus on finding more civilians.

"Alright, here we are- now do any of you know any details on what is happening?" - "There's machines everywhere and not just small ones- BIG worm-like things practically- EATING our houses!" - "W-What?!" Dexter looks around at the other civilians who are nodding- they have all seen the worm robots. "D-Damn, I need to get out there! Stay here, you are safe here! If something does somehow get in, use that room over there- it leads to my ver-tram which fires at high speed to the outskirts of town." - "Bless you Dexter..." Dexter smiles slightly at the gesture.

"It's about time you guys got here!" - "Sorry, we were kind of busy ourselves Blossom!" Buttercup exclaims. "C'mon, we got work to do!" Blossom flies off toward the densely packed part of Megaville with a green and blue trail following her usual red. The three power-puffs destroy any small machine they come by before they reach the main apartment building. Machines are absolutely swarming around the building- which is also on fire. "Bubbles, go in the building and get whatever children you can find first, Buttercup; Destroy the surrounding robots- I'll use my breath to extinguish the flames!"

Dexter finally manages to leave the building, with more and more people shuffling in, he directs them to the lab- which he has marked with ground drawings and cones- which lead all the way into the safe room where the other civilians are. He fiddles with his wrist-watch a bit. "Computer, initiate semi-full lockdown, left, right and back sides. Initiate anti-enemy algorithms two and four- protect all human life-forms at all costs." - "Of course Dexter." He runs off, stopped by the sound of roads being smashed, he looks toward in in horror, but it is then lifted with a face of pure joy!"

"Building is extinguished- I'm going in to help whatever stragglers Bubbles left behind- cover me Buttercup!" - "You got it!" Blossom flies in to the frosty and unstable building, all the while Bubbles is rushing out of it with a seemingly inhuman amount of children on her back and in her arms. "D-Don't worry about me, I'm f-fine!" She breaks into a lying smile as she struggles to stay airborne. "Geese Bubbles..." Buttercup lets out under her breath, she kicks a metal machine into another and looks around. "All gone, let me help you, Bubbles!"

"How have you been, man?" - "Great, man- you?" - "Can't complain, but the city is under attack." - "Wait, didn't you want me to take you to... uh... what's-his-name's lab?" - "I did, but then Megaville went under attack, come to think of it- me calling you and getting you here at this time was good luck, Coop." Coop takes a bite out of a monster-sized sandwich and continues; mouth full. "Well, jusht anosher day for ush heroesh, Big Man." - "Amen, brother." They fist-bump and Megas then rushes off toward Megaville.

"This is all we worked for... no regrets yet?" A burly, cocky looking man in a fiery orange battle suit replies. "Hell naw, this is all for the future kingdom; our kingdom!" A woman in a similar suit, but much more slender, seemingly aerodynamic and colored green continues on his statement. "He's right, there is no turning back now- the city will be in ruins soon enough- we just need to feed Model M now, hehehe... Not long now and our perfect world will be within reach!"

The leader of the group looks around and sees the fourth and final member on the edge of the building looking down- arms crossed and resting on a single leg on the ledge. "And you, Astro?" - "I've explained all I wanted from this, I don't want your damn world... I want my brother back..." The strange purple armored girl lets out.

The leader, in a large blue seemingly aqua-dynamic battle suit, lets out pleased; "Then it's settled, now we initiate phase three of our plan... hopefully with no more interruptions from those three... people..." - "I think we are fine... I took care of 'em." The exclusive purple-bladed knight lets out- still looking down the building at the carnage in the streets. The blue leader follows: "Really...? Wow; well good Job, Astro! Then let us not waste time." He claps his hands together.

"Let's get this done!"

A blonde girl in a pink dress seemingly out of place in the middle of the carnage looks up the building- right into the purple knight's eyes- but she tears her gaze away. "The promised day has come... Find me brother... Find me..."

Megas crashes into the pavement Mid Megaville and Dexter gets out- now wearing sunglasses; hair blowing in the breeze. "It's a good day to die..." *CRUNCH MUNCH, GULP... SLURP* ... ... ... "Dammit Coop you ruin everything..." He takes of the sunglasses then throws them into Megas' cockpit and slams the door. He then slides down the arm of the machine until he eventually hits the ground. He raises his head and opens his eyes-

"OH CRAP!" He bellows out and flails backwards as he is looking into Buttercup's eye barely an inch from his face! "You're late, come on already." - "S-Sorry, hehe..." He follows Buttercup into the center of the city, which has no lack of robots flying around in the air. "Dexter's here!" The blue girl, Bubbles lets out exited, robot debris in her hair! "Yeah, now he can finally help us." Buttercup spits out. "Hey, I was busy getting civilians to safety!" - "Yeah, after we already saved them... in the middle of a large scale battle no less."

"Buttercup, stop it!" Blossom lets out, passing over the top of the large building they were scouring for civilians. "We all need to work together and get along, now work together and GET ALONG!" She barks out before leaving sight again. "Psh, fine. Four-eyes, you get that street, there are a couple of machines over there, Bubbles and I will work on clearing this block for survivors, got it?" - "Yep."

As both Bubbles and Buttercup leave sight, Dexter mans his cell phone. "Coop, you there?" - "Yuh-Yeah! *gulp* I'm 'ere!" - "From what I've heard from the people at Megaville Elementary, there are giant mechanical worms loose in the city and the surrounding suburb, think Megas can take 'em out?" - "You kiddin'? I'll make mince meat out of them!" He turns his cell phone off and runs down the street Buttercup told him to clear.

"Aha, there's a live one!" Dexter lets out, exited after locating a flying-machine. He pulls out his laser pistol and nails it in mid-air. "Ha, still got it!" he blows the tip of his gun; cocky and eyes closed. But as he opens them his heart picks up really fast. Where there was once one machine, there are literally dozens. "Dear Einstein..." As they all open fire on his location he scampers for cover.

Back to a wrecked car he re-arms his pistol and fires from sub-safe cover. One, two... three machines go down in what seems like a single second. They all open fire again, forcing him to take cover. He pops his head out and to his dismay- there are even more machines there. He ducks back down and sighs. "Dang, this is gonna be tough..." But right after he says that, the sound of many small scale explosions goes off where the robots were. He sees a few robots fall near his location; dead.

"Hey thanks Bloss... eh?" Dexter rises and sees that Blossom isn't there; it is possible she didn't do it at all. As he eyes the wreckage, he notices a Blonde girl standing in the road. "H-HEY! It isn't safe here, get to safety!" He yells out in an attempt to make her run to the police barricade, but she doesn't budge. "Get going, are you insane?!" She still remains resolute. Dexter groans deeply. "Guess we gotta do this the hard way, I'm saving you whether you want me to or not!"

He leaps from his car-wall and runs to the girl, constantly checking the corners for threats. As he is about halfway to the girl he squints. She is also wearing a pink dress and she seems to be bleeding. "Dammit, what is she DOING here?! She's gonna get herself killed!" He says to himself, before continuing to run to her. He is barely a hundred feet or so from her location, noticing all the robots that were destroyed are all filled with a glowing red hole that signifies that they were hit with something very hot and fast.

He finally gets to a point where he can sprint to the girl's location and he goes for it. But not even halfway there he stops in his tracks. His grip on his pistol loosens before it eventually falls to the ground. His eyes are widening as his hands rise as if trying to touch the far away girl. "D...Dee...Dee...?!" He lets out frantically.

"The day has come, Brother." The girl lets out simply. Dexter's eyes seem to relent back to their normal state as he reaches back for his gun and aims it at the girl! "I... I know those wounds! You are the unfinished android of my dead sister... so that's where you went..." - "The day has come, Brother." She lets out again.

Dexter takes aim. "You are not my sister, you are a monstrosity!" He fires and it grazes her left shoulder. The robot looks at the wound, which is letting off electricity. "Yes, it is to be this way. You must be stronger than me, Brother." - "Stop calling me that!" Dexter fires off several more shots, but the machine rushes side to side, nimbly dodging the attacks!

It then rushes along the ground with inhuman speed toward Dexter and he barely has enough time to pull out his Beam-Saber to meet in contact with her arm! "Kill me, Dexter!" - "W-What the hell are you?!" Dexter flares his saber, nearly incinerating the machine- were it not for it jumping back. He re-arms his gun and fires at her again, but now he is backing up trying to find a vantage point to fight her in without getting pinned.

She once again avoids every attack and rushes at him again, but he throws a small adhesive device at her which causes a giant electrical surge to go off once it hits her chest, causing her to scream in pain! He uses the time to nearly fly up a nearby ladder to the top of a small drive-through. As he reaches the top, the machine rips the device off and locks eyes once more with Dexter, who is aiming for another shot.

"If you wish to defeat me, you will have to do better than this..." She lets out as she extends her arms to her sides. "Going stationary eh? I'll make this quick!" Dexter aims the gun at her head, but her arms open up to show a lot of smaller holes that expel a bright light. "Live Dexter, Live!" She says with her body betraying her words; as it lets off a large amount of red lasers at the building Dexter is perched on! One of them fires so close to his head that it singes his hair!

He takes cover but it is of no use, the entire building is coming down as the foundation melts at the seems! He scrambles as it heaves under its own weight, he nimbly jumps off before the roof collapses unto itself!

He rolls as he hits the ground and as he hears cars being destroyed in the street he once again arms his Beam-Saber. And sure enough, one comes flying his way; and he slices it in two with surprising skill! The haunting visage of what was supposed to be Deedee walks calmly to Dexter, but not in an act of smugness or overconfidence, he can tell by her eyes, she is looking for a weak-point while keeping a close eye on his weapons.

"Why are you telling me to kill you while you are trying to kill me?!" - "Because, I was made to serve you, only after you are made strong enough to defeat me without my power." - "What the hell are you talking about?!" The robot inches ever closer to Dexter, as he backs up, never looking behind himself should the robot attack!

He stumbles- and the robot uses it to her advantage and rushes at him! "Bad move!" Dexter lets out as he completely regains his stance- it was a decoy! He lunges his saber at her and it pierces her chest cavity! She tries to grab the saber, but he flares it while it is in her, causing her to incinerate! "Rest in peace already..."

He pulls it out as she slumps to the ground. He looks upon her, she is exactly as she left him before... blonde hair, pink dress... and a giant gaping hole in her stomach. "D...Dexter..." He meets her words and she raises one hand, without so much as thinking he grabs it. "It is time you fulfilled your destiny..." - "What are you talking about Dee- *ahem* Android?" The android starts to electrify and glow and he backs off from it!

As it gets brighter and brighter he takes cover to shield his eyes from even looking in its general direction! Several moments later after the light fades he looks back and an odd metal object lays where she once was. He inches toward it, being very cautious... The machine is pristine, even though the previous machine had a gaping hole in it...

*The machine starts floating in the air*  
*A voice permeates Dexter's head*

"The promised day has come, accept my power and bring this world into the light dear brother!" The machine fires at Dexter and he has no time to recoil!

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

*Electricity and energy fluctuate in the air as stones begin to float around Dexter*

The machine is binding to Dexter's arms and feet, He cannot resist its grasp as it forces him to be stationary! It engulfs his chest and legs as he uselessly tries to fight it and before he knows it he also has a helmet molded around him too! "W-What is happening?!" He screams, addressing no-one.

A few moments later he notices he can move. He waves his arms around, as if in test of his new 'armor'. It is a very light gold color, so light that it is almost white instead of gold, with obvious pigmentation of the precious metal. "A... Mech-suit?" He says to himself, as he now tries to use his legs. "W-Wow, I feel weightless!" He starts running and then he jumps- "WHOA!" He nearly yells out as he jumps a dozen feet in the air and lands- breaking pavement.

"HAHA!" He laughs as he starts running and jumping around the city, before he starts a collision course with a wall! "OH NO!" But as he nears the wall, the machine itself lets off a rotational energy that gyrates the air around his collision zone so he is practically sticking to the wall, even in his suit made of solid metal.

He leaps from the wall and tries to gyrate the air around where he lands on the ground and it softens his fall as to cause the pavement not to break! "Deedee... Is this what you were saying?" He views his arms coated in the metallic suit. "Either way, I could DEFINITELY get used to this!"

"It's coming along quite well. Chronometal Model D has been completed as the Black Mother requested, now it is time to initiate phase four of our plan." The blue leader of the group lets out, addressing the group of the details. They all take small gray diamond-like objects out of their pockets and eye them.

The red, muscle-bound person lets out in question: "So we won't be in contact for a while?" - "Correct, but if all goes according to plan, we should meet up in three days time at Megacorp's main building- the tallest in the entire city and unleash phase five." The leader responds with, addressing all of them- while answering that individual's question.

A giddy laughing spree is heard coming from the slender green knight. "I can hardly believe we are finally about to do it! It is so close and everything is going perfectly! Heeheehee!" The leader lets off a smile. "Yes, everything is perfect... but..." The leader's hesitance catches the ear of the exclusive purple knight. "But...?"

The leader scoffs. "The Black Mother is my only worry right now." The Purple knight, Astro walks away from the wall she was resting on an approaches the leader. "You think so too?" - "Yes, it all seems so complex... yet so simple at the same time, she is giving us everything... but what does she get out of it?" - "Your... our world?" He shakes his head. "I would love to think so, but she came and went, giving us exactly what we needed exactly when we needed it."

The purple one lets out in rebuttal. "If everything goes as planned, then even if she is against us we will be far more powerful then her." - "How can you be so sure?" She looks at her arms, coated in a fine purple Nanosteel mesh. "The Biosymbiotes are more powerful then she gave them credit for..." She looks back up to meet the leader's eyes. "Phantom is the very reason I could kill those three... alone no less. He told me the secret to ultimate power."

The leader raises an eyebrow. "Well don't keep me waiting, what's the secret?"  
She lowers her head to view her body: "Sacrifice..."

Dexter spends a large amount of time looking at every aspect of his new armor. He feels around everything, it's incredibly powerful despite it being relatively light- yet still hundreds of pounds it bestows Dexter with many more hundreds of pounds of power. As he feels around his back, he feels something strange; he flicks it around for a while before dragging it across his neck into his view.

"Blonde hair...?" Dexter looks above his peripherals, his hair is still red, yet looking at the hair in his hand, it is a bright blonde. He feels around his right side and sure enough, there is blonde hair there too. He grasps both locks of hair and brings them into his vision. "This is..." Dexter closes his eyes and almost in a trance, he instinctively smells the hair... "Deedee..." He says to himself with deep concentration and meaning.

He looks around the wreckage and finds a broken car, he rips off one if its side mirrors in an attempt to get a better look at himself. He parks the mirror to his side and it gives him a full view of his back. "It is coming from the armor, an entire head of hair, covering my own. Strange..." As he takes a better look at the hair, several strange images trickle into his mind... images of; his sister...

Brushing her hair...?

"What was that just now?" He says to himself, looking into the distance, yet at the same time; looking at nothing. He shakes his head and regains perspective; "Well, at the very least I cleared this street, might as well check up on the girls!" He runs off, faster than ever before- the armor makes him really fast, but as he goes so fast he almost loses balance several times.

As he loses his balance again, the armor starts gliding on the ground. "Okay, THAT is cool." As he sits still to observe it his armor once again touches ground. "Hmm..." Dexter starts running again, but this time he tries sliding his feet along the ground and sure enough- the armor starts floating at high speeds along the ground as if it were a futuristic vehicle. He sways his arms side to side and he is actually sliding along the ground as if it were ice!

As he nears fallen cars, he flares his feet and they cause him to jet side to side incredibly fast, avoiding the obstacles nimbly, even at high speeds! He slides off at very high speeds, avoiding all obstacles and before he knows it he is already back in central Megaville, but he is having far too much fun to just stop! "Let's make this cool!" - "What the?" Buttercup lets out, somehow missing his arrival.

Dexter jumps from the ground and then using air gyration, breaks his collision on a nearby building and then bolts off of it to other nearby buildings, quickly gaining height. Before long, he has jumped over 20 times and landed on the top of one of the highest buildings in Megaville in a scant ten second period. "Howdy." He lets out simply.

Buttercup floats up until he is on the same level as him, but she retains some degree of distance, roughly 50 feet. "Who are you?!" - "Can't ya tell?" Buttercup looks him over, up and down, but she seems to focus on the blonde hair. "D... Dexter...?" - "Bingo." She gradually floats closer to him, keeping a penetrating eye on him, with deadly curiosity!

As she is eye to eye with him, she finally asks the obvious question- "What's with the get-up?" Dexter looks at his armor a bit and then he looks back up. "Believe it or not, I didn't make this." - "Okay, that doesn't answer my question..." - "You didn't expect that I made this?" - "Not at all, it actually seems cool!" - "HAR HAR HAR." - "So where DID it come from?"

Dexter places his armored hand to his chin and goes into deep thought. "Oh c'mon now! You were only gone like 30 minutes!" He shrugs and let's out with a flat voice; "I killed a robot that looked like my sister, then it turned into some kind of machine. It proceeded to bind itself to my body for no apparent reason, now I'm really fast and strong."

...

"Fair enough." She lets out simply. "Fast and strong huh? Care to test that out?!" Buttercup punches her hand and gives off a deadly smile. "Sure." Buttercup recoils from his quick response, as if he was hoping she would ask. "Meet you at the bottom!" Dexter sharply states as he is already in free-fall. Buttercup follows and catches up really fast, but Dexter angles himself down and fires his air gyrators straight up causing him to go even faster!

As he approaches the ground, he flips and lands softly on a bed of circulating air, Buttercup on the other hand lands roughly- on her feet of course; but roughly none the less, breaking pavement upon impact. "Looks like I win the first round!" He spits out, taunting her. "Yeah well it's all about round two! The lightning round!" Right after saying that she rushes at him, fist extended!

Dexter catches the fist and bends it into submission, causing Buttercup's knee to strike the ground! "G-GAHHH!" She screams out! She unleashes her eye-beams on him and he flies back from the impact! He lands on his feet and slides at her very quickly, she jumps in the air, as does he- as he nears her she quickly flies around him! "No fair, I cant move in mid-airOOOF-" He tries to say as he gets smacked into the ground, shattering his landing zone!

She looks down, half worried, half proud of herself, but then Dexter gets back up... she looks half relieved and half pissed! "Gotta hand it to ya, you're a lot stronger than I thought, But you ain't no SUPERHERO yet!" She fires off at him and he quickly parries all attacks, but the collisions are forcing him backwards, ripping through asphalt even as he maintains his stance! But then seemingly out of instinct, he extends his arm and opens his hand-

A large red laser fires out of it sending Buttercup on a one way ticket to Pain! He looks at his hand. "Huh... didn't know I could do that..." As he looks back up, Buttercup rises from the smoke, with a certain deadly look in her eye... "I... AM... NOT... GOING TO BE BEATEN BY A NERD!" She swings her head back and lunges it forward unleashing a giant laser beam and Dexter retaliates with his new-found hand-laser!

They collide in mid-air and give off a deep red aura, neither party giving an inch, but then a familiar noise sours the mood- "BUTTERCUP!? STOP!" The commanding tone is none other than the leader of the Powerpuff Girls; Blossom. Dexter relents his laser and sidesteps Buttercup's. She eventually stops as well and looks up to the self-proclaimed leader, then gestures her head to Dexter.

Blossom shifts her gaze from Buttercup to Dexter and she flies down in curiosity... "D... Dexter? Is that you?" She lets out confused, looking at the back of his... blonde head. As he turns around and his eyes meet her eyes she cocks her head. "Why are you blonde?" Dexter looks up and tugs his forehead a little bit and pulls a tiny strand of hair out. Upon inspection- it is a red hair. "It's just the armor, it makes me look like a fairy-tale hero."

"Strange... but I guess you have built crazier things in the past..." - "Ohh I didn't build this." - "Then who did?" - "No idea..." She eyes him inquisitively but then shakes her head. "I guess it doesn't really matter, how goes the hunt?" Buttercup walks up to them. "You mean destroying the robots? Could be better, I can't even touch these giant worm things." Upon hearing these words Dexter pounds his palm as if remembering something!

"Coop! He can stop the worms with Megas, let's meet up with him!" - "Where is he?" Blossom asks. "He 'should' be near the suburb" - "Should...?" Buttercup lets out, clearly not amused. "Well, there no knowing whether or not he stopped for a bite to eat." - "AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!" She continues, seething! "Hey, he's a big, BIG man, with a big, BIG appetite! ... All joking aside, we should look for him." Blossom lets out a sharp whistle and within moments Bubbles shows up.

She doesn't even ask what's expected of her and they all fly off at once to the suburb. "Y... Yeah, I'll... uh, catch up!" Dexter says in vain. He shrugs. "Ohh well, at least I can continue to test this thing's mobility!" He fires off, gliding along the ground and walls.

A single silhouette stands atop a building, eyeing Dexter as he dashes off... it's the green knight.

"Hmmhmmhmm... He's already as strong, if not stronger than Buttercup and he hasn't even unlocked a single shred of power in Model D!" She rubs her hands together... "He's going to be a fun boy to play with... Heeheehee!" Her armor opens up at key ends and it lets off a familiar rotational energy, allowing her to fly off at high speeds!

She nears the wind turbines in the Megaville outskirts and she places herself at the top of one. She closes her eyes and maintains a disciplined stance that is unusually unlike her energetic personality.

A few moments pass and the wind seems to pick up dramatically...

"Is anyone in here? If there is... I give you one polite chance to leave- or die. Your calls though!" Several workers in the electrical plant scamper off as the orange knight sets the place ablaze. "LAST CALL! SURVIVORS; 'GIT OUT!" He bellows as his arms open up, spewing large spheres of energy at the walls, causing them to come down at the seems- people running from rooms he was aiming at that would of surely perished if they stayed in for more than a few moments.

As he is alone in the building, he spots a door labeled; 'Authorized per- "Good 'nuff." He breaks down the door without so much as reading it and heads down the stairs.

The cool air of an approaching sunset wafts through Megaville woods, right on the outskirts of the city... The orange setting sun casts shadows on the many trees. The shadows get deeper and deeper, even though the sun has yet to set... A single person; Astro, the purple knight, sits in the forest clearing- eyes closed and cross-legged as if meditating.

The winds slowly die down, as the shadows get even more intense, soon the sky isn't even visible anymore... not even the stars shine in the forest... "Let there be fear, feed M..." She lets out, eyes still closed, then all vision of her is removed as the forest goes into eternal darkness... A single faint glow appears where she once was, a small gray glow...

A single man sits on the harbor, next to the water purification plant. He is out of place, looking into the water with an entire suit of armor equipped for no discernible reason to passers by. He kicks the water, deep in thought. As the water is in mid-air it freezes into snow before hitting the water again and melting. A middle-aged man in a trench-boat walks by and addresses the man;

"Something wrong, partner?" He tears his gaze from the water and looks into the setting sun. "A lot of things are wrong..." - "Is it something you can fix, partner?" He closes his eyes and smiles. "I'd like to think so, but it's gonna be hard..." The kind gentleman squats down next to the man.

"The harder a problem is to overcome, the better it feels in the end, partner... It may seems tough, it may seem impossible- heck, even if its a woman you can get her, partner! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, just... go for it!" He opens his eyes and meets his with the stranger's. "You have had to overcome a problem concerning your life-long dream?"

The blue knight rises- as does his new-found cohort. "Shoot, It was always my dream to become a big-shot lawyer, but people back in my hometown say that it was just 'fer city folk!" - "How did it work out?" The man takes a card out of his pocket and hands it to the knight. He reads it... 'Bill Jackson, attorney at law.' The knight closes his eyes and smiles.

"What's your name, partner?" - "Micheal and my friend here is Leviathan." He lets out. Before the man asks who that is he speaks again;

"I'll remember your words, Bill Jackson." - "Well, if 'yer ever in trouble, gimme a call partner!" Bill walks off leaving the knight to his business. He opens his eyes and views the card again and sighs. He throws it into the harbor and looks off into the sunset again. "Sorry, Bill, but my dream is for a better world with me as it's founder... and you have no part in it. As he says that the water seems to tide in and out ominously...


	2. Chapter 1: Knight in the Daylight

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE FIRST WAR-  
Chapter 1: Knight in the Daylight

Zipping down the roads, catching the eyes of panicked passersby, Dexter quickly reaches the outskirts of town. His new armor he has claimed that gifts him major boosts to mobility and strength glistens in the morning sun. Hard to believe that just yesterday he heard a siren that started all of this.

Something happened outside the northwestern mountains right before this all happened, but now is not the time to think.

As Dexter nears the group he hears something close by, the sound of giants fighting! He quickly speeds to the source of the sound.

"Coop!" He yells out as he jumps over massive piles of debris and wrecked cars. Megas is laying the smack-down on a giant mechanical worm. Right when Dexter thinks Megas is in trouble, he turns himself around and lands a killer blow, punching the head off the worm.

"BOOYAH!" Coop yells through his speaker system on Megas. The Powerpuff girls fly down to assess the damages. This entire block has been completely leveled; even flying over it took time. They fan out to find stragglers caught in the mayhem.

Dexter bolts up Megas' arm and nears Coop's cockpit. "Whoa Big man, what's with the get-up? One of your inventions?" – "Sort of? It was mine at one point... but someone stole it and remade it. Now it's like this. It's really weird." – "Yeah well, just another day." – "Just another day..."

The Powerpuff girls fly off with armfuls of people and Dexter takes that as his queue. "We will meet up again, until then; keep breaking these worms." – "Will do!" Dexter blasts off Megas at sub-sonic speeds and quickly meets up with the Girls at Megaville Elementary School.

"This place is getting packed, Dexter." Blossom lets out as she instructs the scared populous to the safety of his lab. He notices that it has almost reached capacity, but it's not yet full.

"Yeah, I know... we need somewhere else. What about my old lab?." He lets out, scratching his head. "Not a bad idea, but it's in disrepair." Blossom lets out.

"It's not exactly fortified, either." Bubbles lets out, remembering the ruined lab. "Well let me check it out, make sure it's safe. Come with me, Bubbles. I'll need backup. The rest of you; Stay here and defend this bunker."

Bubbles and Dexter rush into the city! They quickly spot robots flying over the city engaging with the police and make quick work of them. With no time for formalities, they tell them that his house is going to be a base of operations and about the Elementary School Base where people are. They quickly move themselves to said locations to defend any civilians stationed there.

Never a dull moment in this wreck of a city, destroy robot- save person- move person- destroy robot- save person- move person...

"Damn, out of ammo." Dexter says as he still grips his gun. He hears screaming over the corner- and the Powerpuff girl is nowhere to be seen; likely helping someone at this very moment. He quickly discards the weapon and charges over the collapsed building!

Two large hulking robots tower over a small group of people! He takes out his Prototype beam saber and skates down to the robots! As one of them begins to crash down, the group of people scream and close their eyes- sure that they are about to meet their end!

"HYA!" Dexter exclaims as he slices the robot's arm off as clean as it gets. The other robot ignores the people- who scamper to safety and begins to double team Dexter. He nimbly dodges every attack and burns their extremities off with his saber.

As soon as he thinks that they can't pull anything out of their hats- their fallen pieces begin to crawl around on the ground and begin to pursue the hiding people! "NO!" Dexter yells, knowing he can't catch them all in time!

However, as if through primal instinct, Dexter reaches for his hip- and quickly draws a weapon that previously didn't even exist and without thinking he lands expert shots to each of the machines pursuing the people! After they are all red piles of molten slag, Dexter turns his attention to the larger beasts still remaining and makes expert work of them with combinations of Saber slices and blasts from his new weapon.

They quickly go down with red holes burned into them, breaking pavement and astonishing the people around him. He pants and wheezes, never putting this much physical exertion on himself before.

"I am a man of science... *huff... huff* not a man of the sword..." His armor's artificial blonde hairs dangling down across his shoulder, making him look like some sort of mechanical Norse warrior. The people come out of hiding, scared yet thankful. Before one of them says: "Hey, I-I know you... you're Dexter!"

"Yeah, I'm *huff... huff* Dexter... go... go to the School... you will be safe... there..." – "Th-Thank you! We will! Thank you..." They thank the tired hero and quickly make their way to the suburbs.

Dexter takes a knee and begins to relax his over-tensed muscles. Bubbles flies overhead and notices Dexter. "Are you alright?!" She asks worriedly. "I'm fine... just kind of... overworked... I've never done anything like this before." Bubbles helps him to his feet, before he jostles her off. "I said I'm fine... we have work to do." – "Okay, I was only trying to help." – "Thanks, but we need to focus our energy on THEM, not us." He says as he walks into a run, before finally breaking into a full skate, regardless of how tired he is.

Bubbles flies over to make sure he's okay and of course, to see anyone in trouble.

Over the windmills north of Megaville, a woman in a green suit of armor stands in the middle of a gale that continues to grow in power.

"Soon... we will take this city and erode the will of everyone in it! Our new world is so close- I can smell it within the winds." She says to herself as the wind spins and slices the areas around them. Windmills cut and break, clouds swirl and storm and lightning bolts strike the ground.

"Harpy, give me your strength. Call Model D over here and let's get this done!"

Her armor glows a bright green as tornados form and crush the silos and buildings around the outskirts of the city. People running for their lives. Power in the city fluctuating due to the transformers and windmills being destroyed.

She flies into the storm and enters the largest windmill on this energy farm and begins to sap energy from it. She places the small gray crystal she has had with her near the top of the tower and it begins to emit a small glow.

"Soon, Model M... soon you will be reborn. But this time, there won't be anyone to stop you... Haha! HAHAHA!"

The city street lights explode and rain glass upon the already dangerous streets of Megaville. The fluctuating power levels causing electronics to burn and break. Entire transformers combust and energy towers crackle and burst!

To make matters worse, robots still infest the entire town! Dexter and Bubbles can only do so much! They haven't found a survivor in several minutes of constant battle and searching and they decide that staying here any longer is a waste of time.

"Let's move to the north, let's get to my house." – "Got it!" Giant robots, small robots; it doesn't matter. But there are a LOT of robots. Too many to remember, too many to not exhaust the two heroes.

As they move north through the battalions of robots, they notice that they have seen wreckage... but no casualties yet. No-one is dead. The worst they have ever seen were people being carried away- only to be saved by the two heroes. But the robots open fire on police and them, as if they only attack people with weapons, but kidnap other people.

'Who designed these things...?' Dexter thinks to himself. To his knowledge, there hasn't been a single casualty yet. Before he can think more, a nearby power tower explodes and begins to fall! Dexter barely has time to react before it smashes into the pavement, opening up a hole into the sewer, loose wires falling into the water and short circuiting.

"What the heck is happening to the energy? I mean, sure... the city is being destroyed... but it's almost as if the energy is constantly being sucked up and spat out from somewhere." – "I... don't know..." Bubbles says apologetically. She's not very tech savvy.

"It's fine, let's just get to my house." Dexter says before they move off again.

As they near the northern suburb, they notice the houses nearby are in pretty much perfect condition. "Why hasn't this place been touched...?" In all other major directions, there is carnage. The western city, the northern city, the southern- Then it hits Dexter.

"Only the city is under attack by the robots!" – "But what about the giant worms? We saw them near the houses!" – "Maybe the robots attack the suburbs...?" – "Then why aren't they here?" Bubbles asks, raising a good point.

"I don't know. Let's just get to my house, its right over here." Dexter quickly rushes up the stairs and opens the door. His mom and dad are there with extremely worried faces. "Dexter!" – "Are you okay?!" – "Yeah Mom, Dad, I'm fine. But you guys need to get into my lab."

"Oh- okay... what's going on?" – "I don't know. Just please listen. The city has come under fire by a lot of robots. I don't know why and I don't know who made them. We need to get everyone to safety." After he says that and rushes to his room and moves the bookshelf, he and everyone else enter the lab.

He looks around, unsatisfied. "There are holes in the walls and ceiling. I need to repair this place until it can support people and defend them. This could take a while, but we can't afford to waste time." He immediately turns to his power tools, but as he tries to turn them on- they constantly power down and power back on.

"Damn fluctuations...! Bubbles, go back to your house! Take anyone else you find along the way with you- along with my parents. The school has gotten way too crowded, your house is the next best area. Defend that place until I can get this place under control." – "Alright... please come with me... uh- Dexter's parents." – "O-Okay... Dexter?" He looks back from his work to address his mom's question.

"Be safe..." He nods and returns to his work. They leave out of the house as the carnage can still be heard outside. Buildings toppling and sirens blaring.

Left to himself, he thinks and thinks... "Why is this happening? Who would do this? Who would want this?" he thinks out loud, unintentionally claiming an answer.

"Because if people get scared, if this city gets pulverized- we can make our new world." A quirky feminine voice is heard above Dexter! He bolts his head up to view the intruder, but is quickly kicked across the lab, crashing into broken machinery and dusty shelves.

He rises from the wreckage and wipes the blood from his face. He pulls out his seemingly non-existent gun and points it at the girl.

She has green hair, red eyes and is wearing an aerodynamic suit of armor. Not too much unlike Dexter's. "Who are you-" He tries to ask again as she launches a lightning bolt from her hands hitting Dexter directly, causing him to yell out in pain as the thunderclap deafens him!

Barely remaining to stand on his wobbly thunderstruck legs, he covers his busted ears and looks over at the girl with squinting eyes, barely open. She makes a following gesture and flies out of his lab.

Dexter has every intention of chasing her down, but as soon as he moves- his legs lock up and he falls face first into the flooring. Ears still ringing, muscles still sore, Dexter tries to force himself off the ground, but he can't muster the strength.

He passes out...

People rambling and shuffling around the Powerpuff Girls' house, Bubbles flies over to address Blossom.

"Bubbles, any word from Dexter?" - "Yes, Blossom... he says the shelter got over-stuffed so he sent people over to us until he can open up his old lab." Blossom takes note and looks over the rabble below. "Alright, we need to keep open watch on this entire area; there is no telling when a robot could show up at any moment!" Bubbles nods and lands on the ground as Blossom keeps her eyes in the sky.

Bubbles looks over to the group of people before one of the people within the group catches her eye. She is sure she has seen her before and as Bubbles eyes her deeper, the girl looks confused and looks around her making sure she isn't looking at someone else. The girl she is staring at has black hair, black eyes... she is certain she has seen her somewhere. Somewhere important...

The girl uncomfortably lets out a question- "C-Can I help you?" Bubbles relents her stare a bit and looks around, as if making sure the coast is clear. "No, I just... thought you were... someone else." Bubbles shakes her head and smiles. "Where are my manners? Hi, I'm Bubbles of the Powerpuff Girls!" - "Oh, uh. I'm Lynn and I'm new here." - "Lynn, huh?"

Bubbles nods to herself and smirks slightly, but not completely sure of herself yet. A woman aside Lynn walks up to them. "Bubbles... would you consider having Lynn here help you?" Bubbles looks over to her. "Well, anyone can help, but-" She tries to say before she interrupted by a little red-headed girl with an enthusiastic overtone: "She's a superhero too!" After hearing that Bubbles looks over to Lynn with a smile. "I knew it..." She says to herself.

Lynn looks at her confused. "Knew what?" - "Nothing, if you 'are' a superhero, there are some major things I have to tell you about in private... the masses can't hear this or they will panic." - "Of course..."

Bubbles leads Lynn into their house. Lynn and that little girl exchanging signs of encouragement. Bubbles' mind is racing a mile a minute.

'I guess this really is it after all...' She thinks to herself.

"Wake up! Dexter! WAKE UP!" Dexter hears as he mumbles on the ground. He barely musters the consciousness required to slightly look around the room. He sees no-one and closes his eyes again.

"WAKE. UP." Someone screams into his ear, jolting him awake to his knees. He looks around the entire lab. There is still no-one. "You have to find her." – "Who- where are you?! Show yourself!" He yells as he rises to his feet. There is still naught a soul in sight.

Dexter hears an explosion outside and decides it's better to chase her down than track down whoever's talking. He bolts out of his lab and out the door of his house only to be greeted with several giant worms crushing pavement! Megas slams their heads into the sewer and promptly out of commission.

Dexter spare no time for formalities and looks around, wondering where that girl could have gotten. The power-lines are still fluctuating and entire houses are lit aflame from the stray sparks. Off the northern distance, Dexter spots what could be the culprit.

The windmills are spinning faster and faster and it looks like an isolated thunderstorm is above it.

"What the hell...?" Dexter asks himself as the clouds get bigger and darker, encompassing more of Megaville by the minute. He skates over the fallen worms and jumps over Megas on his way to the northern wind farm. He's going faster than ever before. He doesn't know why, but something is irking him about this certain calamity.

Something big is going on... something really big.

He goes faster and faster, until his skates are virtually transformed into rockets! He bolts from building to building, gravity being more of a tool than a certainty to his high altitude travels. As he crosses the threshold of the storm, wind, raid and hail immediately bombard him.

Though they do not stop him. He attempts to jump straight to the top of the Windmill, but some sort of barrier stops him clean in his tracks. He hits the pavement hard, face-up. He looks into the eye of the storm. He quickly rises to his feet and runs into the Windmill, which is swarming with robots!

He pulls out his newly discovered weapon as if it was now conventional and blasts cannonball sized holes into the robots. He doesn't skip a step, as shooting with this gun is as natural to him as breathing... though he does not know why.

He quickly makes his way up the tower to be intercepted by more and more robots! He makes quick work of them and they scatter around the ground, making him wonder why such weak robots are even here. Before long, one far too big to be taken out by a simple pistol- even a magical pistol appears!

It crashes into the walls that Dexter bounces off of moment after moment, going too fast even for a computer to trace. He lands on the ground; the robot still trying to find him before he pulls something else out of pure energy! The pistol in his hands combines with the raw matter in his other and transforms into a rifle!

But he's not done there; he takes aim and charges his shot with a source of power he is unfamiliar with! The robot turns around and lets out a roar, right before Dexter unleashes the power of his canon right into its mouth, blowing its head clean off and making a gigantic hole in the wall.

"Wow. This stuff if crazy. I've gotta practice this-" As he says that a giant thunderbolt hits the ground, nearly deafening him. "L-Later." He says to himself before running back up the stairwell. Before long he opens a hatch and is greeted by a serene sight. The top of the Tower is completely outside of the storm. Straight within the eye, it is dry and calm.

He cautiously rises from the hatch and looks around, before something catches his eye. It looks like a giant silver crystal covered in iron plating, floating in the air and letting off an ominous black glow.

"Beautiful... isn't it?" A feminine voice behind him purrs. He turns around and adopts a defensive position. "You again..." He mutters as he views the intruder. Green armor, Green hair- Red eyes. She is floating just over the ledge of the windmill, seemingly unaffected by the barrier in place. She casually wafts over Dexter's head as he pulls out his gun, but does not aim it at her yet.

"Who are you?" After he says that he takes aim and gets ready to dodge any lightning bolts. "Once bitten twice shy?" She mutters as she lands and begins to walk over to the floating crystal, electricity following her every step.

"I wanted to talk a little before fighting this time. After all... you came like I wanted- like a good boy." She says as she turns around, looking him right in the eye.

"Well here I am..." He mumbles, gun still pointed at her. She shrugs and turns back around to rub the iron crystal, almost sensually. "You see this...? This is the answer to all our problems." – "What is it, anyway?" She turns around and pats the crystal on the 'head', as if it were a child. "You will know soon enough." She says as she goes into a battle formation.

"You still never told me who you were." – "I am Elly, Biosymbiote H! I seek nothing more than to remake this broken world in a light unbeknownst for eons!" She yells as she charges Dexter down and attempts to skewer him with an electric spear!

He dodged nimbly, but as the spear hits the wall, the entire Windmill electrifies and claps! Dexter is shocked and forced to his knees in one fell swoop.

"Not very in tune with nature, are you, Dexter?" – "How... do you... know my... name?" He pants out, looking up to the grinning woman. Her vampire-like teeth and red eyes making her look like some kind of predator.

"I know all about you hero types. The only reason you're even alive is because of his plan." – "His p-plan...?" She walks off, twiddling her spear around, lightly tapping the ground all the way and causing short electrical bursts to strike Dexter from the paneling.

"It was his idea to fix this broken world. We all knew you would resist. But we gave you a means of doing so." She turns around and points at his armor. "Model D!" Dexter looks at his thunderstruck armor, barely able to move as all his muscles are tensed and paralyzed. "You... did this?" – "All according to plan. You got the armor and you came here. Now you saw this." She says as she once again points to the crystal as it saps electricity from the tower.

Dexter remains on the ground, completely at her mercy.

"But... then again, our only orders were to give you the armor and show you Model M... after that we are allowed to do whatever we want." After she says that she grins slightly. "Do you know what I want, Dexter?" She hisses as she casually strolls over to the paralyzed boy.

"I want you..."

"DEXTER!" He hears screaming into his ears, seemingly from all directions at once! "You can't let her stop you! You need to rise up and defend this world! Now is the promised day! You can't give up!" A familiar voice yells into him, before he begins to feel strong again.

Seemingly unaware of the verbal escalation Dexter has been hearing, Elly is within striking distance of Dexter before she opens her palm over his face. "I really though you would be more fun, but oh well- can't have you ruining our world. Good bye!" She fires off a large electrical bolt that completely engulfs the roof of the Windmill! Crackles of electricity and energy ebb and flow from the impact zone before she realizes he wasn't hit.

"What the?" She turns around to a gun pointed at her face. "You lose." Dexter says as he pulls the trigger. However, halfway through he has a crisis of conscious and at the last second he re-aims for her leg as the shot is fired.

*BANG*

"OH, DAMMIT! You actually shot me!" She yells as she collapses on the ground, her armor fully pierced much to her apparent surprise. Dexter turns back to the Iron crystal and muses. If that is absorbing the Electricity, it must be the source of the distortions! He takes aim with his charged rifle and fires! However, Elly jumps and pushes it out of the way and only a sliver of it is shot! The part hit flies off and hits the ground.

"I... I didn't know you could rise from my attack like that... This isn't over- I promise! You haven't seen the last of me!" She yells as she nears the rest of the crystal and seems to disappear from sight instantly. Seemingly satisfied, Dexter walks over and picks up the crystal. He looks up and notices the clouds begin to part and the fluctuations cease. Though the city is still is large danger, at least he can begin repairs on his lab now.

He looks at the crystal in his hand as it lets off an eerie black light. He is not at all comfortable with its presence... He looks around, almost as if he was expecting someone.

"Whoever you are who keeps talking to me... giving me this power... thank you..."

He looks down the Windmill, certain he can make the jump and he does just that. He needs to start repairs on his lab if the people of Megaville are to be safe.

This is going to be a long night.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _And with that, the first chapter of the prequel story is here. The First War actually starts off as one of the more light hearted stories I've written. More akin to PPG than PPGD admittedly, though the paradigm shifts pretty hard later on. Later in the story, more of "The Knights" will show themselves, people who read all the stories up to this point will have a brief outline of what's going to happen, most notably involving Megaville and Bell for example. These Prequels are "mostly" unaffected by time travel, with the single major exception of Barasia, who constantly does what she pleases, however this is the "untainted" First War, which will lead to the Second War, which will then end the world, and lead back to the First Story in the Chronometal Universe. These are still in essence, prequels to the stories I've already written, so as a reader you can expect bad stuff to go down all the time.  
_

 **PS:** _This is the first story I actually went out and rated T, not M. If you're a first time reader seeing this, the other stories are rated M, and may be blocked from some filters because of it._


	3. Chapter 2: Ignition

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE FIRST WAR-  
Chapter 2: Ignition

Making good time back to his Lab and noticing a lot of the robot uprising seems to have calmed... at least for now; Dexter spends a lot of this down time thinking. The crystal in his hands, the girl atop the tower, the voice in his head... all of this really. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't seem to connect.

Before he reaches his lab he stops in his tracks, his thoughts lagging his movement. He eyes the glowing crystal, unsure of its purpose. It was important to that girl, but not important enough to claim the remainder of this crystal. It lets off small amounts of energy, but Dexter can't make heads or tails of it.

He skates down the road- completely skipping the lab and heads over the Powerpuff Girls' house.

 ***Meanwhile***

"So... Lynn, is it?" Bubbles says, inside the house sitting next to a table, the only other person in the room being Lynn. The situation is almost uncomfortable. "Yeah, I'm... uh... new here." Bubbles sips from the cup beside her, lost in thought. Something rare for her.

Lynn taps on the table uneasily. She looks out the window to the front yard, people still huddled together being defended by Blossom on point.

"Is it safe for them to stay here?" Lynn asks. "There are not very many places to go." – "You could... help them leave the city." – "And if the robots chase us down while we are running? I don't think we can leave... I think we need to stay right here." Bubbles says flatly, almost as if she were giving an order.

Lynn, curious yet annoyed puts both her hands on the table as Bubbles finishes whatever it is she was drinking, slurping loudly before placing it on the table.

"Why do we need to stay, Bubbles...?" She asks, inquisitive. She has not yet had the liberty to know Bubbles on a personal level, so she is not sure of her intentions. "We just... we just do. Something bad is going to happen. I just know it..." Lynn raises her eyebrow, but her expression remains the same.

"Do you?" – "Do 'you'?"

The table goes silent. But unexpectedly, Bubbles is the one to break it.

"Don't you remember me?"

 ***Meanwhile***

Dexter skates down the road, eventually making it to the house of the Powerpuff Girls. He slows down as the people around notice him and gasp; through joy or fear is unknown. He does look strange, but perhaps people here recognize him and his machine-like toys.

Blossom flies down from the sky for a moment to talk to Dexter.

"How's the lab?" – "Bad, I don't think I can fix it." – "Oh- that's... d-darn." She sputters, noticing even more people being brought in by the police. "Where's Professor Utonium?" – "The Professor? He's down in his lab. Why?" Dexter pulls something out of his pocket and shows it to her.

Her eyes go wide as she views the crystalline figure. "What... is it?" – "I don't know. That's what I need Utonium for." He says as he puts it back into his pocket. He shuffles through the crowd into the building and enters. Blossom rises back up into the air to watch for robots, before she hears something chilling.

"Mommy? I'm hungry..." Blossom looks down to see a red haired girl tugging on her mom's dress. She notices that after that comment, everyone around begins to silently come to the same consensus.

"Dang it... we didn't prepare for this..." She looks back over Megaville, noticing a worm swimming through the city as if it were an ocean.

 ***In the City***

Knowing time is of the essence; Dexter doesn't make time to greet Bubbles or her guest at the moment and heads straight into the lab. They turn back to their conversation, Bubbles seemingly emotional, Lynn tapping her fingers rhythmically upon the table, deep in thought.

"I... told you this would happen?" – "Y-Yes... are you saying you don't remember?" She nods, still eyeing nothing but the table, fingernails tapping. "W-Well... it is very complicated... I don't fully understand it either." – "What did I tell you?" She asks, looking up. "I uh..."

Bubbles tries to find words, eyes nervously darting around the room. She takes a deep breath and tries to put words together.

"This is... the First Chronometal War... this takes place, after the Prologue, but I don't know what that was. I think we missed it..." Bubbles continues to talk as Lynn nods, attentive. "Apparently... it was started by something called... Chronometal Model M...?" – "And do you remember who made that?" Bubbles gulps and nods, but says nothing. The gestures alone are enough for Lynn.

"I see. But the person who told you all of this? That wasn't me." – "I-It wasn't...?" – "No, it must be a future version of me. Something tells me our efforts in this war will be in vain..." – "D-Don't say that!" Bubbles yells out, rising from her chair as if Lynn were saying the exact words Bubbles was hoping she wouldn't.

"We can't give up... I know you all said it's unstoppable, but we have to try! I won't let you give up!" She says as she grasps Lynn's wrist tightly and begins to run out the door. "H-Hey, what's the big idea...?!" She stutters as she is led out of the house.

 ***In the Basement***

"So... what is it?" – "I think it's some sort of... n-no... it's a kind of..." Utonium stutters, analyzing the crystal in every way imaginable. "I don't know... but I do know something." He says monotonously as he removes the crystal from the identifying machine and puts it in Dexter's hand. He moves it around a little bit in his hands, wondering if it got a little heavier all of a sudden?

"It's bigger than when you brought it in. It's growing, Dexter- whatever it is." Dexter views it in his armored hands. The black light is eerie and it seems to be growing. But they still don't know what it is. Dexter feels a faint rumbling in the ground and puts the Crystal back into the machine. "Keep me posted, I still have work to do."

They nod to each other and Dexter runs out of the Lab.

Outside, viewing the quivering, scared, hungry masses; Bubbles and Lynn find themselves more worried than before.

"We can't give up, Lynn... all of the people you helped save... their lives won't be in vain." Bubbles says with a quaking voice. "I..." Lynn tries to say before she makes eye contact with the red headed girl's mother from before.

"Lynn... can you come over here a second?" She asks, with a hint of worry in her voice. Bubbles and Lynn look at each other before Bubbles heads back inside. "Don't abandon them..." She says before leaving sight. Lynn looks back over and takes a deep breath.

She nears the mother and they both kneel down to view the little girl sitting in the dirt. She looks up and her eyes go bright. "LYNN!" She yells as she rises to her feet and embraces her, but as she does that she hears her stomach growl and relents quickly.

"S-Sowry... I'm kind of hungry..." She says with her youthful tongue. "That's what I called you over for, Lynn... Blossom said we are out of food, but she can't afford to go look for any because the robots could attack at any moment. But..." She stops herself and looks around, making sure the coast is clear.

"Is it true what they say? Are you really a... superhero?"

Lynn thinks to herself. Yes, she is a superhuman, but if she wants to remain incognito in this timeline, she needs to play it cool. If she is too well known, the knights could find her- if they haven't already.

"Superhero...? No... I'm just an average person." – "Oh... I see. From what Ruby told me I thought you were like... well like them." She says, looking up at Blossom. "Nah, just your average run of the mill hero. No super powers here, sorry." She smiles and nods. "It's alright; it was a silly question anyway." She laughs before she regains a serious demeanor. "Can you convince the Powerpuff girls to get us some food? I know they are doing all they can, but it will be night soon, some of us haven't eaten since morning..."

Lynn nods and begins to walk back into the house. "I'll see what I can do, hold on until then, okay?" She smiles and waves. "Thank you so much for all of this, Lynn!" Feeling a little warm inside, Lynn enters the door and walks inside; only to notice Bubbles was at the door the whole time.

"I'm... proud of you, Lynn." She says, with a genuinely happy smile of her face! "D-Don't mention it. Man, what's with everyone and the mushy compliments today?" Still smiling, Bubbles begins to walk out of the house. "Wait, where are you going?" – "These people need food, I need to find some." She says, before pausing and looking back.

"But, wait... 'Aren't' you a Superhero?" She asks. "I..." She pauses, trying to find the words. "I can't be known as one, not yet. I have to remain hidden for now, Bubbles. Please don't tell anyone." Bubbles, seemingly confused nods anyway. "Okay... just, if push comes to shove, please help these people with whatever powers you have, okay?" She flies off without awaiting a response from Lynn.

Lynn sighs and walks back out of the door, catching the eye of Ruby. "Where is Bubbles going, Lynn?" – "She's going to find you guys some dinner!"

Dexter, near the border of the house, talks with Blossom.

"So... it's growing? Do you have any idea what it is yet?" – "None whatsoever, not even the Professor can identify anything about it, yet." He says, defeated. He feels a faint rumbling in the ground again and turns around. "Are you feeling that?" – "Feeling what?" Blossom asks, confused. She puts her hand to the ground and tries to feel what he's feeling.

"Th-That, did you feel that?" – "I, uh... no... No I didn't." Dexter looks back at Blossom. "Am I going insane?" – "Or is your armor heightening your senses?" Dexter pauses and considers the possibility, still feeling the rumbling that Blossom can't.

"Over here..." A faint voice calls out to Dexter as he turns around. He looks around, finding nothing. "Hello?" He asks, facing nothing but the city. 'Maybe he is crazy?' Blossom thinks to herself.

"You can't see me? I know you can see me, look harder." A faint girly voice whispers from areas unknown once more. Dexter squints in an attempt to see farther, but he cannot. "I can't see you... where are you?" – "Your glasses... take them off..." The voice suggests. "M-My glasses? I need them to see right..." – "No you don't take them off."

Dexter, completely perplexed and considering the possibility that he is losing his mind takes off his glasses. Eyes still closed, he begins to slowly open them. What he sees astonishes him, forcing his eyes wide open! The entire world before him is so vivid! He has never seen anything like this outside of a microscope! "Holy c-crap...!" He stutters. Enjoying the views of whatever is happening to him; he notices something, very far away.

He squints and his vision seems to improve tenfold! At the end of his vision, he sees a blonde girl in a pink dress! "Is... Is that, you?" – "Yes, follow me!" She says, before taking off at startling speed! "O-Okay, Blossom... I'm going to find out what's going on. I'll be back soon!" – "Okay... bye-" She tries to say before he's already cannon-balling down the city. She cocks her head to the side, wondering what just happened.

Buttercup stands outside Megaville Elementary, guarding it from potential intruders, but the invaders seem to have completely stopped, leaving Buttercup bored. "Man... I'm glad you guys are safe, but I'm so bored..." She says to a random pedestrian taking refuge here.

"Well... we are safe in Dexter's lab at the moment, maybe check up on your sisters?" – "Well... what if robots show up?" The man looks around, no robots in sight. No additional survivors either. "Once we all get into the lab, we will lock it down. Nothing can get in. We will be safe until we need to come out to get some food. Go check up on your sisters. We're fine. Just... promise you will come back if something bad happens?"

Buttercup laughs a small bit and gets off of the chair she was sitting on. "Yeah sounds like a plan. You have a phone, right?" – "Yeah." – "And you know our number?" – "Yup." She nods. "Good man, I'll check up on them. Be safe, you guys!" She says before flying back to her house.

Dexter follows the girl he can never quite get a good look at, as she almost dances across the ruined city. He notices the rumbles are getting stronger and stronger as they go on.

He sees something breaking the horizon. "The Megaville Power Plant...?" He asks himself, as the girl seems to disappear within its silhouette. "Is there... someone there too?" He shakes his head and rushes up there. However, as he does- he notices robots circling the area. "Just like the Wind farm... there are robots patrolling this place too... there IS something here!"

However, not just due to his proximity to the Plant, Dexter notices the Rumbling is getting much heavier...

However...

Flying over the city, Bubbles finds a Mega-Mart. She flies down; noticing that it was attacked by the robots, but everything inside is still there. She breaks through the windows and begins to pick up everything she can hold. However, with armfuls and legfuls, she notices it would still take several trips to feel everyone at the house. She looks around and notices shopping carts.

"Hm..." She wonders to herself. She drops everything into a cart, then another, then another and another until she has everything in the store stuffed into about fifty carts. She wonders to herself how she is going to get this back to the house again, pondering the situation, before a stroke of brilliance hits her!

She carries all of the carts outside and begins to stack them. One by one, a tower of food begins to form itself. Somewhat evenly stacked, Bubbles takes the tower of carts by the base and begins to slowly float over the city.

"Careful, Bubbles... careful..." She mutters to herself, making extra sure not to drop anything.

Lynn mingles with the crowd, getting everyone's take on the situation. They seem to have calmed down a lot for the most part, but they still feel very uneasy about being so out in the open.

Noticing something very strange in the sky, Lynn calls it out to Blossom. "What is that?" She looks up and squints, before breaking into a giant smile! "It's Bubbles! She came back with food!" The mere mention of food has the crowd of people moving around, all eyeing Bubbles- who really doesn't need all of this pressure right now.

She lands and places the food tower on the ground, happy to finally have it in a stable area. Bubbles and Blossom get to work distributing the food evenly and quickly. But Lynn notices something and puts her hand to the ground.

"Do you guys feel that...?"

The rumbling, faint but still very present makes itself known to the heroes who only a few moments ago felt nothing. "Is this what Dexter was feeling?" Blossom asks herself, also with her hand to the ground.

The people around them, eating the food they were given, begin to worry about what the heroes are doing. They can't feel the tremors themselves, but they know the heroes can.

"Lynn... what ith it?" Ruby curiously asks the black dressed girl. "I don't know, but I'm sure it's nothing..." She says to convince Ruby... and perhaps herself as well.

Filled with the need to find out what is causing this rumbling, Dexter locks himself into combat with the many robots surrounding the Megaville Power Plant. Almost as if he has gained some kind of new power, some of the larger robots which took many attacks before are now being blown away in a single shot. His Saber is proving to be a lot weaker than this weird arsenal of 'magic' guns he has.

Within moments, he finds himself within his own little scrap yard, pieces of robots big and small scattered across the road. He spends a little bit of time viewing himself before feeling the rumbling intensifying yet again! Without missing a beat, he heads inside the plant.

He looks around, making sure the coast is clear. The walls are melted and the doors are caved in. He walks over to the cellar, where the door labeled Authorized per- "This must be it." Dexter says to himself, not reading the door and instead heading down to where the rumbling is coming from.

As he reaches the bottom, a truly unexpected sight makes itself known. A giant hole is in the flooring and it seems to descend into a complex of sorts. He looks around the level of the factory he is on. The circuitry is stripped from the wall and everything not bolted down is gone. This entire factory is non-functional, it's likely the City of Megaville will lose power very soon and will have to rely solely on the Wind Farm.

Curious about where this hole in the ground goes, Dexter jumps into it and notices the rumbling intensifies infinitely down here. Almost as if one queue, several robots come crashing down the metal halls, but are made short work of by Dexter.

He runs down the halls, running toward whatever is causing the rumbling. The farther down the metal corridors the heavier the rumbling gets, until he is met with an awesome sight! Through a glass window, he finds that there is an entire factory down here! Wall to wall of high tech machinery and energy plants.

"What the hell is this...?" Dexter asks himself, before being blown away by a surge of heated energy! Dexter winces on the ground, trying to rise back up, noticing the suit is buckling.

*Heat threshold capped, get to a safe location* Blares through Dexter's suit of armor, apparently very intolerant of heat. Dexter musters all of his strength to raise his head to meet his assailant. It's another person in an odd suit of armor, this one reddish orange... and a lot less sleek than the other he saw, in fact it seems very bulky. It appears to be a man.

"So you're the infamous Dexter, eh? I though you'd be more of a challenge than this." – "Who... are... you?" Dexter grunts, still unable to move. The man smirks. "Drax, Biosymbiote F." Dexter's head falls to the ground, his energy completely spent. "Another one, huh...? What do you guys even want...?" – "I'm sure Elly told you. We seek to remake the world in a light, long forgotten." – "What does that even mean...?" Dexter sighs.

"It means what you think it means! We are going to break this already broken world and repair it in the light it has for so long forgotten! But in order to do that... pesky 'heroes' need to piss off." Dexter looks up again, still completely flat on the ground, his suit blaring heat warnings. The one who calls himself Drax walks over to an elevator of sorts and switches it on.

What comes down shocks Dexter! "That crystal...!" He huffs, knowing it's the same thing. "You know this? Well, Elly did say you got the drop on her, take a good long look at it, Hero... it will be the last thing you ever see." It is much larger than before, but it looks a lot different too. It's the same basic kind of crystal, but none of the edges and rivets are the same, as if it were an imperfect copy.

"What is it, anyway?" Dexter says, buying time, noticing his suit is finally cooling down. "Model M, bro." Dexter thinks to himself. Elly said the same thing, she said that all she was ordered to do was show him Model M, then she tried to kill him...

"But, that's enough of show and tell, time for you to go bye-bye!" Drax yells as his armor forms around his fist to make a kind of battering ram! He slams it down toward Dexter, who has barely enough maneuverability to roll out of the way!

Dexter jumps out of the way of his attacks, but his armor is still locking up and he cannot go on the offensive! Considering his options, he begins to run away! "Oh no you don't!" Drax yells as he activates a command to the factory! Bulkheads shut and lock into place, forcing Dexter into a corner as Drax walks down toward him, his suit of orange armor glowing.

"End of the line, Model D." – "What the hell is Model D?! What the hell is Model M?! Who are you people?!" Dexter yells out, hysterical. "Wait, you don't even know what your Model D is? Are you 'that' stupid?" – "What did you say...?!" Drax rushes forward and slams Dexter's armored arms against the wall as he eyes him, now face to face, Drax's red dreadlocks spilling over his sunglasses.

"You chase down and break the carbon copy of your sister that you made, she turns into armor, you wear it and if I'm not mistaken, you are hearing a voice- right? A 'girly' voice? Ringing a bell, dumbass?!" – "W-Wait... what are you trying to say?" – "I thought YOU were the smart one! You are going to make ME spell it out for you?!"

'Dexter, you have to run; he is going to kill you! RUN!'

"HYA!" Dexter yells as his armor finally unlocks, bashing his grip away! Dexter turns around and blows a hole in the bulkhead and begins to run. "Running away from your problems again, Dexter...?" Dexter stops in his tracks.

'Don't fall for his tricks! RUN!'

"You gonna run back and have your 'girlfriend' do all the work for you again? Go ahead, but by the time you even reach your house- my work here will be done." Dexter clenches his fists, almost disappointed in himself that he just fell for this taunt. He fires backwards and brandishes his new saber! He locks into an attack with Drax, as he too summons an energy blade from seemingly nowhere.

"Too slow!" Drax yells as he punches Dexter in the stomach, causing him to cough up blood and loosen his grip on his blade. In this small moment, Drax begins to arm his fire weapon to lock Dexter into place again!

'D-Dexter! The wind! Use the wind!' – "The... what...?" – 'Don't ask, just do it!'

Not even sure of himself, Dexter tries to instinctually tap into whatever wind she is talking about. "GOODBYE, HERO!" He yells as he fires at Dexter from point-blank range, causing him to fly into and then through the wall. "Ha... pathetic." Drax says to himself and begins to walk away from the molten slag he left behind.

"THUNDER LANCE!" – "What the fu-" He tries to say as a giant blade of lightning and wind engulfs his being, sending him crashing back into the crystal, shattering it into many pieces! Dexter walks out of the rubble, with what looks like a tornado surrounding him. "Wind..." He says to himself, remembering Elly.

Drax rubs his head and looks up to Dexter, who is looking down on him and his shattered crystal. The factory around them begins to malfunction and conduits explode.

"Hah... by breaking the crystal, you severed this factory's power... not bad, but this isn't over..." Drax says as he instantly teleports away, taking many fragments of the crystal with him. The factory around him heaves and explodes, but all he can think about is the voice.

"Deedee...? Is that you...?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Yes, I'm aware that multiple characters named "Drax" are in the extended PPG/Dexter's Lab universe, and they also have red hair. This was just a silly coincidence if anything: This Drax has nothing to do with THOSE Draxes. Now, moving on._

 _Something I didn't mention in "The Chronometal Wars" was the fact that the Chronometals themselves could talk, not just to the wearers, but other people as well. So far the only example of this before these few chapters was Model M talking to other people, but readers would most likely write that off as the evil armor being evil, but it's actually a trait of Chronometals in general. So long as the Chronometal has a soul currently in it (hint hint) it can talk. Let's move on, shall we?_


	4. Chapter 3: Shadows of the Past

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE FIRST WAR-  
Chapter 3: Shadows of the Past

With no time to waste on idle thought, Dexter picks up some of the scattered crystal shards and runs out of the exploding factory. Dodging, bobbing and weaving through intense explosions, making sure not to be caught in their high temperature blasts; he faintly makes out the exit among the smoke.

The explosions shake the ground above and the factory ceiling caves in, showing light above, albeit from over fifty feet up. The entrance caves in and Dexter looks up one of the gashes in the top of the factory. With no time to waste, he jumps up one of the holes; however he is intercepted by a rogue flame pillar!

'Dexter! Use the fire!' The voice from before yells at Dexter once more. As he is jumping up he yells out as if from instinct- "Magma Shield!" His entire being is engulfed in a controlled firestorm and he jumps out of the burning factory through the fire wave as the entire surrounding area begins to cave into the underworld below, explosions so loud and powerful they are breaking the glass of buildings over a mile away.

The shaking envelopes the entire greater Megaville area, the people at the Powerpuff Residence now able to easily feel it, as if a bomb has gone off! Blossom looks to the east, but is unable to abandon these people in an attempt to help Dexter. She merely stands there... hoping for the best.

Dexter carefully yet quickly jumps and runs across the collapsing landscape, making sure not to fall into the conflagration of molten steel below. "Crap, this is bad...!" He says to himself as the entire area around him crumbles, leaving him with no-where to run. He stands on a lonely island of 'stable' material pondering his next move as even this area begins to crumble.

"DEXTER! HOLD ON!" A tomboy voice is heard from afar! Dexter looks behind himself, seeing none other than Buttercup in hot pursuit of Dexter's position! The ground beneath him gives way, so in his last attempt to survive- he jumps as high as he possibly can. He looks below himself, his augmented vision giving him a perfect view of the hell below him. "Crap Crap CRAP CRAP!" He yells to himself as he begins to fall!

"GOTCHA!" Buttercup yells as she snags Dexter at the last second, both of them feeling the heat below. She strains to hold up the incredibly dense Dexter, but she makes it to safety without a wince. She drops him on the pavement and lands next to him, both of them panting. Dexter falls to a sitting position, catching his breath.

"Th-Thanks... Buttercup..." He wheezes. He holds his hand to his chest, barely believing he is still alive.

"How... How did you even find me? Aren't you supposed to be guarding the School?" – "It got filled up and locked down so I headed to the house... Lucky, huh?" – "Y-Yeah... lucky... right..." He says, still shaking. "Buck up!" Buttercup says, smacking his back into position. "We still have work to do. This is only the beginning." She says looking into the smoldering ruin below the roads of Megaville.

"Right... right... let's go."

Night has fully dropped over the city of Megaville. Dexter has been fighting for hours. The people around the Powerpuff residence have tents, mats and cots set up around the building and a lot are resting inside the house as well. The girls spend more of their restless night keeping watch. Nothing more than a couple stray robots have invaded. Off to the side is the giant Megas, whose pilot is inside the house.

"Man, I must have taken out like twenty of those worms, man." Coop says, but this time without a mouth full of food. "I take it they didn't put up much trouble?" Utonium responds. "Nah, man... I'm sure your girls and Big Man had trouble taking em' out, but Megas is built to destroy giant robots!" – "Hah! Glad to hear that."

Utonium rises from his chair and heads down the stairs. "Where ya goin' man?" – "I still have some research to do on this crystal Dexter brought back." – "Ah, sciency stuff. Well, see ya later..." They nod to each other and go their separate ways. Coop, now left alone hears his stomach growl, but decides against getting food.

'These people are helpless and scared... the food is scarce, I can't take it from them. It's not right.' He nobly thinks to himself as he lies down on a mat in the house.

Dexter and Buttercup make it to the house and their arrival stirs the attention of Bubbles and Blossom.

"Oh you're back! Did you find her?" Blossom asks Dexter. "Her...? OH! The girl... uh... y-yes?" – "Y-Yes? Did you find her or not?" – "I... don't really know yet. I'll find out later, but for now I need to show Utonium something. Please excuse me." He says, bypassing Blossom and the tents.

Now in a lonely sisterly group of three, they all talk amongst each other.

"Well, this night has been crazy, but I think we finally have everything under control." The leader, Blossom says looking over the house and the people sleeping under their protection. "The food is almost gone again... we will need to get more tomorrow." She sighs.

"Well... hopefully the government can help us out with that..." Bubbles lets out. "I hope so." Blossom responds. They both look over to Buttercup, who is looking over the city, several parts in smoldering ruin. "Buttercup...?" Bubbles asks.

"Oh- uh, yeah?" She says, finally being snapped out of it. "Are you alright?" – "Yeah! Yeah... I'm, uh... going to check up on the school." She says before flying off. "I guess it's back to patrol duty for us, huh?" – "Yeah... yeah..." They fly back into the air and establish another recon. It's going to be a long... LONG night. Not only that, this night seems especially dark, like some of the stars aren't peaking through the sky tonight.

Utonium enters the crystals into the scanner like before as Dexter views- in awe, the crystal from before. "How did it get this big? This is... crazy! What matter is it drawing from to increase in mass?" – "I don't know. Everything around here is in perfect condition; it hasn't been absorbing the air either. It just seems to be growing from... nothing..."

"You and I both know that's impossible." Dexter says as the new crystals are being scanned. "Impossible is just a word we use until we find out 'what and why.' You know that, Dexter." He says as he observes the crystals in a slightly different way from before. Dexter looks on, curious. The Professor is using a high power scope to view the crystal from a microscopic level.

A dark haze seems to surround it, coalescing into crystal formations. "Where is that smoke coming from?" – "I don't know. It seems to come from inside the crystal itself." Dexter picks up the larger crystal hunk and heads up the stairs. "Keep me posted."

Blossom lowers from the sky to talk to Dexter, who's holding that odd rock again. "Back with the... whatever?" – "Yeah, Utonium and I can't seem to figure out why it's growing."

A little girl, who can't sleep listens on, curious...

"Well, do you have any ideas?" Blossom asks. "Only a few, but they were all disproved. I thought it ate the air or the matter around it to grow in size, but it seems to just be growing on its own." – "Do you have any idea what it does?" – "Well, those... 'Bio-whatchamacallits' were definitely using this for evil."

"Evil...?!" The little girl in the tent thinks to herself.

"Yeah, they were using this as a power source... and unless I was mistaken it was also used to create that freak storm at the wind farm. This thing is dangerous."

The little girl is hyperventilating, seemingly terrified at the prospect of an evil crystal as close to her as ever. This giant event unfolding before her innocent eyes begin to break her composure.

"What the...?" Dexter says to himself as the crystal grows black and begins to emit smoke.

"It's... growing?!"

In the black of night, even more black than usual now that they think about it... the Crystal in Dexter's hand begins to swirl in a dark aura as vapor coalesces to form larger layers on its crust.

"What's going on, why's it growing, Dexter?!" – "I have no idea...!" Dexter runs quickly back into the house and down the stairs into the lab.

"Utonium! Quick, analyze this, now!" Without so much as a question, he slaps it in the machine and begins to analyze it as fast as he can. "Dexter, look at this!" Utonium says, pointing to the monitor. The small black haze around the crystal has grown to a full blown cloud around the entirety of the crystal!

"It's growing at an exponential rate! Do you know why?" – "No, Blossom and I were just talking outside and it just... exploded into this!" Utonium looks back to the monitor, noticing his Microscope is blocked off. "What the?" He asks himself as he opens the scanning machine. "Holy...! Dexter, look at this!" He says, beckoning Dexter over to look inside the device.

What he sees startles him, to say the least.

It is at least five times the size it was just a few moments ago! He tries to take it out of the machine, but the hole to put the samples in is only half the size of the crystal itself now.

"Well... that's not going anywhere..." – "What made it do this, Dexter? What EXACTLY were you doing before this happened?" – "Like I said, Blossom and I were talking about the crystal outside... and it just started doing this all of a sudden. I'm not sure why it exploded in size 'THIS' much, though." Utonium sits back down and scratches his chin.

Dexter can hear a ruckus outside and walks up the stairs. "Keep me posted."

Bubbles and Lynn are outside the house in a secluded area.

"I don't know, Bubbles... if they are just going to die anyway, I don't see the point..." – "But you could feel that emotion when you helped those people... It isn't hopeless! We have to try!" Lynn looks down, not sure what to think.

"I'll help these people... but it's out of sheer pity... not because I think it will do any good..." She says as she walks away, leaving Bubbles behind.

As she heads back to the front yard, what she sees surprises her. Everyone is awake and yelling! Lynn runs over to the group to make sure everyone's okay. "What's going on?" She asks a random person. "The Powerpuff Girls are holding some kind of evil machine inside that house! We want it gone! We want it far away!" Lynn looks over to the porch, with Dexter and Blossom on it.

"People, please!" Blossom yells out. "We don't know WHAT it is yet- and it's only an item! It's not evil!" The people aren't buying it and continue to rabble... Dexter doesn't contribute to the conversation. Something else catches his eye... or rather, nothing catches his eye.

"Hey, Blossom... does it seem a little dark to you?" Taking a break from her speech, she looks around. There are no stars in the sky... and there seems to be a thick fog enveloping the roads. Dexter sees something else that catches his eye. A girl far away is beckoning him... again...

"Blossom... I got to go find that girl again." He takes off without awaiting a response, leaving Blossom to the growing riot.

"Deedee... is that you? Please tell me..." He says under his breath as he runs down the blind city. He follows the girl down the dark twists and turns, completely unable to see on his own... it's as if the entire city is within an abyss of pure darkness. The only light being from who he is chasing...

When he makes the next turn, he can no longer see who he thinks is Deedee. He looks around, before feeling the slightest shred of fear.

"Deedee? Where are you?" He says, looking around, but every direction is the same abysmal darkness. He can't even make out his own hands. "Wait..." He says to himself.

"F-Fire shield!" He yells as his being is engulfed and it lights up the entire area. What he sees shocks him! A blonde girl in a pink dress standing right in front of him.

"Dee-" He tries to say before she walks through the inferno and hugs him... he tries to return the action, but his arms go through her.

"Dexter... it is me... but... we have to cut this reunion short." After she says this and looks at Dexter, she is surprised that she isn't looking down at him. "You've grown, brother... both in height... and as a person."

Before Dexter even has a chance to ask her any questions, she points to a dimly lit forest. "You must go there. Another Biosymbiote waits there for you." – "Wait! Why are you here?" She turns back halfway, eyeing the ground with sorrowful eyes.

"I'm here to stop Mandark..." She says enigmatically as she fades from vision once more. Dexter hysterically looks around himself and tries to talk to her- "Mandark?! Mandark is back too?! Where, when... wh-why?! WHY?!" He gets no response...

Still somewhat recovering from shock, Dexter looks over to the forest just outside Megaville. It is darker than usual as well... but his fire shield makes it easy to see.

He walks into the brush, being careful not to light anything on fire... this is public property after all. As he goes through the woods, he notices his fire is casting less and less light... as if he's approaching some pseudo-reality where only darkness can cast shadows.

He comes to a kind of clearing... and what he sees would surprise him if he wasn't already expecting it.

A giant crystal... glowing a faint gray amidst all the pure black. It is also swirling with the dark energy as the other crystal at the house was. He walks up to the crystal and puts his hand on it, keeping his guard up at all times. Wherever this Biosymbiote is... he must have the pure darkness to his advantage.

"So you've come... Dexter...!" A young feminine voice draws out. I guess it was a little girl after all, not a man. But, something scratches the back of Dexter's mind. As if... the voice was familiar.

"Show yourself and I won't cleave your crystal in half." – "Don't tell me you think YOU'RE in a position to bargain with ME!" It's official. That voice is definitely familiar... but he can't put his finger on it.

"Fine, I warned you." He says as he turns around, bluffing. He draws his sword and wonders why she hasn't stopped him yet. "HYA!" He yells bearing down on the crystal... but his blade cannonballs off of it. "What the...?" – "It's too big to just be... broken, Dexter..."

"Who are you?!" A small amount of the darkness fades and it leaves one area illuminated by starlight. The being steps into it. Her slender physique contoured to the purple armor. Her face is completely covered by a helmet. She isn't short... but she certainly isn't tall either.

She reaches for her helmet and takes it off.

"WHAT...?! Y-You..!" Dexter stutters. Her face is one from his past. Silky black hair held in two pig tails. The only thing throwing him off is the huge scar going down the right side of her face.

"OLGA?!"

Her face shows one of many puzzling emotions. The scar shows a life of experience... one Dexter cannot even fathom. She holds her helmet in one hand while keeping her eyes fixated on Dexter.

"It's been a while, huh?" – "What are you doing here?! Are you with these people?" – "Not even a how-do-you-do, Dexter? I thought we were friends." Dexter's face scrunches up and he darts his eyes around. This 'has' to be a trap. Olga wouldn't be here as a Biosymbiote if she wasn't an enemy. Everything around him is pure darkness; there is no escape... only Olga and whatever Model M is.

"So... I heard that Mandark's back..." Dexter says in a strange attempt to break the ice. Olga looks surprised, but puts the helmet back on... apparently not amused. The dark purple helmet with matching visor clicks into place and Olga almost instantly seems like a different person.

"Not yet. Almost, but not yet. He will be back soon; and what you are doing is in offense to that." – "Yeah, well forgive me for not wanting him back that much. How do you even bring the dead back anyway?"

Olga lets off a small chuckle and merely drops her head down a little bit. "We already brought someone else back to life... don't you realize it yet? Have you met her?" Dexter thinks for a moment and remembers just a few moments ago... but... was she really alive?

"If you are talking about Deedee, I wouldn't really call that 'alive'..." – "Isn't it though? Are we not all just consciousnesses within shells? How is your Chronometal any different from a mortal body?" Olga riddles. "There's more to life than simply 'being'..." – "Oh, but she isn't simply 'being,' Dexter. She's talked to you, helped you and even brought you all the way here. To be honest, I didn't think you would survive Elly's attack, let alone Drax's... only to end up here."

She steps back a few inches and completely disappears into the darkness. Dexter feels really bad all of a sudden, like she's not going to be all 'buddy buddy' with him anymore.

"You are merely a stepping stone, Dexter! Your life has no meaning to me anymore!" She yells as the darkness fluctuates and Dexter finds himself within some kind of Bizarro dimension.

The ground gives way and seems to spill into nothingness. A blade from the darkness flies to Dexter who barely has enough time to react and dodge! The quick dodge has him stumble down a pit, but his training with his armor allows him to jump off the chasm's walls and out of the abyss!

However, as soon as he lands Olga rushes out of the darkness, brandishing two purple blades! Dexter dodges them before jumping back and drawing his own weapon, but by that time she's already gone again. Noises are heard from all directions and Dexter instinctively roars "FLAME SHIELD!" A firestorm rages around him and the small throwing blades are blasted upon contact!

The fire from the shield casts a faint light within this darkest of realms, allowing him to gain some real footing. He sees a shadow originating from behind him and he cleaves in a circle, only to have Olga duck and kick him in the stomach! As he recoils she draws her weapons and attempts to skewer Dexter! But he has had too much training before this moment to simply let that happen!

"Shock Trap!" he yells as she in engulfed in a static storm! He must have dropped something at his feet before she attacked. Dexter is better at this than he thought. But the Olga in the static trap seems to be rather solid. When he takes a better look at her, the armor explodes blasting him backwards! It was a fake...!

As he is on the ground, she falls from the sky and attempts to impale him with a sword in each hand! He draws his saber and blocks both stabs with them, having her land on top of him, both trying to overpower the other! The blades spark and electrify as the power gradually shifts to Dexter's end! He regains his footing and begins to push Olga back!

"Hah... fine, I guess if I can't... hah... overpower you... I can out-skill you!" Olga says, panting from the tug of war. Dexter tries to slash her to have her dodge and cut at his arm! It does no real damage other than causing Dexter pain! He pulls out his D-Pistol and fires to have her almost 'dance' around it and slash the gun away!

She jumps into the darkness only to instantly appear behind Dexter! As he tries to engage her in hand to hand combat she nimbly dodges it and retaliates! She takes out her swords and uses them as if they were batons, almost dancing around him!

Dexter tries his best to avoid the attacks and even counter attack, but everything is met with greater skill on her part! She cartwheels into a giant slash against Dexter, blasting his armor off and sending him flying backwards! "Th-This is crazy...!" He says under his breath, being beaten senseless by a dancer.

"What's wrong? Getting tired?" Olga purrs as she almost seductively walks toward him in his defenseless state. She juggles the weapons in her hands, as blades seem to fly at Dexter from all directions! However, as Dexter is dodging them, more nimbly that he intended mind you, he begins to realize... everything he is doing right now is off instinct.

Olga views his odd movements completely silently, as if behind the helmet she were mouth agape!

Dexter is dancing! Not just like anyone, like Deedee!

'Dexter, you can't let her win! You have to beat her at her own game! Just do what feels natural! I trust you...'

Without even calling attention to it, Dexter pulls out his sword and begins to engage Olga in a dance of death! One false move could mean the end for Dexter, but he has to keep a level head! They move in rhythm with each other's attacks and they dodge each other perfectly, as if it were a brilliant theatrical performance.

The darkness around them seems to ebb as Olga focuses on the combat more than ever! Before long, they are in the star lit forest, the darkness almost completely faded! They seem evenly matched for what seems like hours, always an inch from each other's lives, before something knocks one of them off guard.

'Olga, stop! Please!' Deedee yells through his armor, causing her to falter and Dexter to smack her to the dirt, knocking her helmet off and her weapons out of her hands! Dexter rushes for her and pins her to the ground with his own two hands, meeting her face to face. She looks up with rage in her eyes.

"That was a dirty trick!" She yells. "I didn't do it, Deedee did! Stop this, Olga!" He pleads, completely overpowering her. "Stop what? You don't even know what we're doing!" – "YOU'RE DESTROYING THE CITY AND BRINGING YOUR PSYCHOPATH BROTHER BACK TO LIFE!" He yells at her face! She musters the strength to kick him off her and she rolls back to her feet and equips her helmet.

Finally back in some semblance of control, Olga sighs and backs away, the crystal near them beginning to vanish.

"You are stronger than I thought; Dexter... who would have thought Deedee could teach you to 'fight' like that? Just remember what I said, though... your life has no meaning... to us, to this world... you are MERELY a stepping stone, nothing more." She says as she vanishes into thin air, along with the crystal.

Dexter falls to his knees, the pain of the battle finally catching up. He is sore all over and his entire body is cut up bad.

"Why is the happening, Deedee? Please, tell me..."

'They want to bring him back... but that is merely one stage of their plan; a means to an end! They want to control the entire world; Dexter. You have to stop them!'

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _A lot of my writing of The Chronometal Wars was done with past knowledge of actions that already occurred. Readers that started from the beginning would know that Olga was a member of the Knights far before this part showed so, just that they wouldn't know exactly WHEN she would show up, or how. When I first started writing the Chronometal Wars, I initially thought about starting with the First War outright instead of doing a StarWars-like prequel-sequel thing. When I initially thought the Chronometal Wars out, I knew I wanted Olga to be special and in your face, but I didn't want her to be overpowering. I wanted the readers, and Dexter, to feel like she was merely a cog in a bigger plan. Yes, Olga was very story intensive even before the Chronometal Wars, and yes she has a lot of actions in the story itself, but I wanted it to feel like she joined a team of equals and she isn't the most important or impactful one there._


	5. Chapter 4: The Cold Truth

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE FIRST WAR-  
Chapter 4: The Cold Truth

As he grasps himself and his armor in an attempt to dull the pain, he feels something hit the back of his neck. He swabs back there with his finger and it comes back wet.

"Water...?" He asks himself as he feels it again and again. He breathes a sigh of relief. He stands up and looks into the sky. It is raining. Standing in the middle of Megaville National Park, he looks around himself. The birds are chirping and waking up. The sun finally beginning to rise again.

"Olga... she's with them... Mandark's coming back too..." He sighs and closes his eyes as the rain hits his face and washes out his wounds. The rain really picks up. It's brisk...

The people in the tents more or less stay in them. The rain is rather cold and a lot of them are still frightened from last night.

"What has Dexter been doing all this time...?" Blossom asks herself with barely open eyes. She hasn't gotten a wink of sleep. She yawns and continues to talk to herself. "Chasing after that... 'girl' again, no doubt..." She rubs her eyes and lowers to the ground. The rain seems to have put out the flames in Megaville City. From far away, you can hardly tell it's completely destroyed...

Buttercup finds herself back at the school, the large doors closed to prevent anything from breaking in. She too rubs her eyes and shakes her head- getting the rain out of it. A cold mist rolls into the school from the outside. It's soothing, but just a 'tad' too cold for her tastes.

She knocks on the blast door.

"Hey, open up."

"Hey, open up! Can you hear me?"

She groans and activates the manual override. "Dang... what was it? 8-7-4-4? No, uh... 7-2... 5-8! Got it." The door opens, but falls off its hinges as soon as it does so.

"W-What the hell?!" She yells as she flies into the lab. What she sees... or rather- DOESN'T see shocks her. "Where the hell is the lab?! Where are the people?!"

Everything around her looks like it was carved out of the ground. She notices a couple marks in the open earth and comes to a chilling realization.

"W-Worms...!"

The rain is a lot colder now. The sun is peaking out through the clouds and the mist. It's really something else, especially when it's a sunrise over a once burning metropolis.

Dexter walks down the crushed roads to the Powerpuff Girls' house. He doesn't run... he doesn't skate... he walks, as if the destination isn't as important as his own thoughts. He thinks about the last time he saw Olga.

It was the Gathering of Heroes all those years ago. They shared quite a moment, but parted ways after it was all over. They left the past where it was... and until now, Dexter thought the regrets and grudges from both sides were dead and buried. But... guess not.

They never kept in contact... it seems like Olga lived an entirely alien life these few short years. Her demeanor... her voice... her FACE, what was that scar?

Dexter shivers, the cold rain water washing over his wounds. It burns a small bit, but he doesn't know why, it should feel soothing. It's as if the cuts on his skin were made by a cat.

He continues walking down the broken roads, looking at all the shattered machines and broken lights of the city. He tried to keep the power going, but it seems like it faded a long time ago. The rain gets even colder and begins to burn more. Dexter winces as he continues his trek...

Blossom sits on the porch, somewhat protected from the rain as the sun casts a very soothing shine over the area. She dazes in and out of sleep, before she feels like she is being rocked... like in a cradle. Such a soothing feeling... a rhythmic comfort...

Her eyes feel heavy and she drifts off for a short moment, the shaking getting a little more intense. She smiles at the dream she has, her body propped up against the door, the soothing noises of the rain lulling her to sleep.

Everyone from inside the house is outside, enjoying the calming rain, as if the woes of yesterday were almost gone...

But the dream isn't as pleasant as she begins to hear screams! The rhythm of the rocking escalates into an earthquake! She shakes her head and wakes up to a horrifying sight!

"Ahhh!" – "HELP US!" – "WHAT IS THIS THING?!" – "NOOO!" People say one by one as a giant worm engulfs them, taking the entire pavement and yard with them! "Oh God no!" She yells as she tries to combat the worm, but it slinks away back into the underworld...

Everyone is gone... in an instant, every civilian they have been protecting is gone. Buttercup flies into the area and lands next to Blossom.

"No, not here too...!" She blubbers. "T-Too? Don't... don't tell me..." – "Y-Yeah... the school... the people... gone..." Blossom's face goes white as she slumps to the ground as the torrent of ice cold water rains down on them. Buttercup looks around; noticing Bubbles and Lynn are standing in the doorway... speechless.

Buttercup sits on the porch, not even sure how to react to this situation. She slams her fist down in rage; "WHERE THE HELL IS THE MILITARY?! WHY ARE WE BEING FORCED TO DO THIS OURSELVES?! God damn it..." She moans as she buries her head into her hands.

Dexter nears the house and notices... the entire yard has been scraped clean! He begins to lumber to it, before he stopped by a voice behind him.

"So, you're the infamous Model D. I've seen you from afar, but never really got to meet the man himself." A serious voice lets out. Dexter turns around, still tending to his wounds, in no state to fight.

It seems to be another Biosymbiote. This one blue... it seems to be aqua dynamic. "Who are you...?" He boorishly asks.

"I am Micheal. Biosymbiote L. Oh, how rude of me. Dexter, meet Leviathan, my friend." – "Hello, Dexter..." A feminine voice lets out, causing Dexter to look around.

"Don't be dumb, Dexter. It's the armor. The armor is talking- just like yours." – "Armor? Your armor has someone in it too?" – "Indeed. Her name is Leviathan. She is from a world- a future much different from ours."

The armor begins to speak again- as it does, his armor lights up slightly, shining a light blue.

"I've got to say, the way you stopped Phantom, Harpuia AND Fefnir... I'm impressed, boy. Maybe you have what it takes to make this fun after all!"

"Fun? FUN?! Is that what this is to you?!" Dexter yells at the armor, the rain coming down in full force, blanketing the roads in mist. The man known as Micheal looks up into the air, the rain bouncing off of him.

"I assure you; Dexter... our intentions aren't simply for 'Mindless Fun.' We are going to fix this world. Starting with the city of heroes... Megaville!" – "What are you talking about? You broke the city to bits and killed the people in it!" – "Killed...?" Micheal asks, bringing his head back down to meet Dexter's eyes.

"I've killed no-one." – "What ARE you talking about?! Everyone is gone! You destroyed the entire city! Where are the survivors that were outside their house?!" – "Why, they are in my base as we speak." After he says this, Dexter's ears un-focus and can hear only the rain hitting the ground.

It's deafening. Why is there so much rain? Micheal looks back up, seeming to forget that Dexter is even there. "Beautiful, isn't it?" He asks, causing Dexter to look up as well.

"It's... it's just rain..." – "No..." He says as he moves his arms to his sides, causing the clouds to part. Yet it continues to rain and soon, Dexter can see why!

"W-WHAT THE?!" Dexter gawks as he sees the truth behind the mist... A giant torrential whirl above the clouds! It's as if it were a giant whirlpool in the sky! Water falls from it ever increasingly as it whirls and spins around the entire city's sky!

"What is this...?! Are you doing this?!" Dexter yells, drawing his D-Saber. Micheal looks down, his arms still splaying apart from his sides as if he were some kind of holy man.

"It is water..." He says as it continues to rain...

"It is steam..." He says as a mist picks up and the rain begins to feel warm...

"It is ice..." He says as the water begins to chill Dexter to his bones...

Before long, it begins to snow...

"What is up with this weather?" Buttercup lets out, still clueless as what to do. She shakes the snow out of her hair and looks up and nearly spits all over herself over what she sees! "GUYS, LOOK UP!"

As she says that, Blossom, Bubbles and Lynn all look up and wear the same expression...

It looks like a tornado of ice bergs in the sky! What sorcery could be causing this?! Blossom looks around, dumbfounded before she sees Dexter across the way.

"Hey, it's Dexter." She says, calling attention to him. They can barely see him through the blizzard, but it's definitely him. "He looks like he's with someone..."

"How can you do this?" – "All the Biosymbiotes can do massive undertakings such as this. Elly could cause hurricanes and tornados... Drax could cause Earthquakes and Volcanoes and Astro could summon an absolute darkness... My power is no different."

He looks down and maliciously looks Dexter dead in the eyes as he draws a Beam-Scythe! Dexter flinches, knowing he's no match for him in his weakened state... "This is bad, Deedee... I don't think I can take him..." – 'It's okay, Dexter! You have friends!'

After she says that Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup land by his side, at first they seem inquisitive, but then they retain battle formations, as Dexter seems to be at odds with this man.

"Dexter, who is this?!" Blossom asks. "His name is Micheal; he's one of the people behind this whole thing!" – "Wh-What?!" Buttercup sputters! They begin to encircle him, before he merely laughs as the snow lets up... the giant whirl in the sky slowing down.

The wind seems to pick up... the place gets darker and hotter all of a sudden!

From the shadows, a Purple armored girl appears...

From the flames, a Red armored man appears...

From the sky, a Green armored woman appears...

They encircle the group, causing them to bunch up. Four on Four...

"Who are you people?" Bubbles asks. "We are the last hope for this world... we are the Knights!" Micheal preaches- his arm firmly on his Beam-Scythe. Drax draws his Beam Saber, Elly takes out her thunder lance and Astro whirls her two weapons at her side.

They all take off at once and engage Dexter and the Powerpuff girls in battle! Dexter barely managing to stand, let alone fight manages to lock blades with Micheal!

"Simmer down!" Buttercup yells as she head butts Drax and sends him flying back into a puddle left by the rains. He rises from the muck and rubs his face. "You're tough... I'll enjoy breaking you!" – "Shaddap!" She yells as she charges him down again!

The green woman engages Bubbles, as they seem to flutter around in the air, constantly dodging each other's attacks! "THUNDER LANCE!" She yells out as she throws her weapon at Bubbles, who screams at it, causing a sonic boom and blowing both it and Elly away! She lands on her feet and lunges back up at Bubbles before getting locked into a struggle, her head crashing into hers!

Blossom fights the purple one, Astro! At first, hand to hand combat seems to almost falter before she notices something and back away... She knows the actions of the Knight she is fighting... the dancing, the subtle movements and the strange demeanor. She eyes the purple visor and says nothing. They engage in combat once more, but this time Blossom counters every one of her attacks, as if she knows exactly what she's going to do!

Dexter bats the scythe away and chases Micheal down, having every one of his attacks overpowered by the scythe! His blade is knocked away and Micheal attempts to land a killer blow, before Dexter summons his D-Pistol and blows him away! "FIRE BLAST!" He yells at the top of his lungs, sending Micheal barreling back in an inferno!

Drax and Buttercup initiated in a power struggle, Buttercup manages to get the upper hand and slips a hand under him! "HAH!" She yells as she tosses him into the air and slams him down as hard as she can, causing a small quake!

Bubbles continues the forward collision against Elly, but then she gets an idea... "YAHHHHHHH!" She screams out as loud as she can right in her face, slamming her into the concrete... ears ringing.

Blossom out-skills and disarms Astro and slams her against the ground as well. Everyone backs away from their respective enemies as they simply rise to their feet again. Seemingly undamaged, Micheal is even smiling while he brushes away the char.

"Interesting. It seems you are all ALMOST as strong as I thought..." He says with a smug face, getting the last of the soot off his armor. He snaps his fingers and in an instant, everyone is gone in a green flash.

They all look around... apparently they ARE gone... Dexter looks back into the sky as the clouds return and it begins to rain again...

Even through the clouds, Dexter knows the torrential whirl is above them. What does Micheal intend to do with it? Dexter turns around and addresses the Powerpuff Girls, rain still bombarding the area.

"We need to find out where they are storing the people of Megaville." – "Wait... they aren't dead?" Buttercup asks, her heart starting to feel less weak from the loss of everyone she swore to protect.

"No... Assuming Micheal told the truth. He's holding everyone at their base. We need to find where that is." Bubbles nods and flies back to the house. "I'll go into the caves left by the worms. Maybe they will lead to it!" She disappears into the cave.

Blossom, Buttercup and Dexter huddle, planning how to best find the base. "Bubbles is looking through the cave... I'll fly over the city and see if I find anything interesting." Blossom states as she flies high.

"What was that place I saved your life at?" – "Oh, uh... that was the Megaville Power plant. They were using it as a factory." – "Right, I'll search the ruins to see if they lead to the base." She flies off faster than the speed of sound, leaving Dexter to himself. He can't fly...

He turns to the house as he hears something. Megas is being activated and begins to walk toward him. It looks down and Coop's voice blares through the speaker system. "That was a sweet battle, Big Man. Sorry it took me so long to get here, I was enjoying the view." – "No problem. The Powerpuff Girls are looking for a terrorist base ran by the people who we were fighting. The people that were eaten by the worms are being held hostage there!"

"Right! I'll find out what I can!" Coop says as Megas begins to run off, quickly being lost in the torrential rains.

Now sufficiently sure he is alone, Dexter begins to talk to his armor. "Deedee, do you know where they are?" – "Yes... but... it's too late to find them..." Dexter gasps. "W-What? Why?" After he asks that question, a horrible rumbling can be felt nearby!

It feels like the world is splitting in two! "WHAT'S G-G-GOING ON?!" Dexter tries to ask, losing his footing and falling forward. The rumbling intensifies to nearly impossible levels! The ground below him is moving so powerfully that his body is slipping around in the muck left behind by the rain! Horrible breaking and snapping noises can be heard and the pavement begins to shatter and fragment...

The rumbling finally stops, but Dexter is blasted away by a powerful gust! He stumbles over the ground, trying not to be carried along by the wind! He forces himself to the ground by jamming his arm into the pavement, locking himself in place. He looks up, hardly believing what he is seeing!

Megaville... the entire city of Megaville is being risen from the ground! "WHAT THE HELL?!" Dexter lets out in utter disbelief! The wind still forcing him to stay in place! The fissures left in the ground from the rising City ignite with gas pipes and electric wires touching, causing a spectacular chain of explosions!

The heavy rain begins to river down into the crater being left behind by the city! The wind finally stops and Dexter can see what caused it! Giant engines the size of buildings seemingly built into the underbelly of Megaville! Dexter finally rises to his feet and attempts to run to the city, but its way too far to jump to...

From his view down in the outskirts he can see that there are giant hatches built into the underbelly as well... as if an entire base were sleeping underneath Megaville this whole time!

Dexter merely gawks at the awe inspiring sight as it continues to climb to the clouds. Then something truly unbelievable happens! The engines shut off and the rain stops... The giant whirl above the clouds lowers and consumes the city!

"NO!" Dexter yells as he tries with all his might to jump up to the floating city! His mighty leap is one for the record books, but it's not even halfway!

'Dexter... you can do it! Trust your instincts and embody the power of Harpuia!' Deedee yells out as Dexter begins to fall!

He lands and jumps again... and again... and again, but he loses sight of Megaville as it disappears behind the clouds. "DAMN IT! I will not let them down!" He yells as he tries to jump again, but this time he harnesses the wind!

"FLY DAMN YOU, FLY!" He screams at his armor as the wind around him begins to bend to his will! His armored feet begin to let off a rotational energy not unlike Elly when she flew and Dexter quickly gains altitude! Not even content to savor the experience, Dexter makes a Bee-Line right for the clouds!

As he passes the layer of clouds, he goes over them and the sun finally peaks out. High in the sky, the City of Megaville is surrounded by seemingly magical forces. Dexter floats far away from the city. From here, it looks like a small aquatic moon.

"Deedee... how do I even get in?" He asks, getting no answer. "Hah, kind of a stupid question at this point, huh?" He rushes for the suspended city as fast as he can!

"FROST MISSILE!" He yells as loud as he can as he begins to spin and form incredibly dense ice around himself! The high speed and rotation cause him to collide with and drill into the side of the storm in the sky! The missile spins faster and faster and bores ever so slowly into the protective cocoon, before Dexter punctures it and cannonballs into the suspended city!

He busts out of the ice and begins to lower to the ground where Megas is standing Blossom and Buttercup are also there. As he lowers, they all gawk at him.

"D-Dexter... how did you do that... a-and how are you flying?" Blossom lets out, amazed. "No time for that. I know where the base is." – "Don't you want to at least tell us what's going on?" Buttercup asks, looking into the sky and horizon, the city entirely suspended in the air and surrounded by water.

"I don't know... but what I do know is the base is right below us!" Dexter says as he stomps the ground. "Their base lifted the city into the giant whirlpool in the sky and we are being held here. We need to go into the base, stop them and save the people!"

As he says that, he looks around. "Wait, where's Bubbles?"

"Are you okay?!" Bubbles asks. "Yeah, yeah... we are all okay..." Lynn responds, in a holding cell with other civilians. "Don't worry, I'll break you out!" – "NO! Don't..." Lynn yells.

"Bubbles, I can break us out of here at any time, but as of right now... I can't let anyone know I'm a hero and most of all... I can't let the Knights see me." – "Huh? O-Okay... I'll just..." Bubbles stutters, at a loss as to what to do. "Look... there aren't many people in my cell, but there ARE a lot down the halls! Ruby and her mom too... save them, Bubbles... then get out of here as fast as possible!"

"Right!" She nods as she fires down the hall. Lynn sighs and sits next to one of the civilians in the cell.

"Who are you, anyway?" He asks. Lynn looks over with a mixture of different emotions in her eyes. Her head droops down and eyes the floor...

"I'm a god damned criminal. Not a hero, that's for sure."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Thus unveils both Micheal and Micheal's plan for the Chronometals. Some small dropped details in the Chronometal Wars and Chronometal Panic talking about Megaville being thrown into the sky now likely make more sense than it has in recent readings, hasn't it?_

 _Also fun note, the floating city in the story picture is supposed to be representative of this exact chapter. The fun part of this note is that all of the stories (With exception of the first one) have pictures correlating to events in the story rather than, say, just a random PPGD picture. For instance, the Panic has a picture of the Moon overlooking Earth, which is supposed to be representative to all the many different parts on the moon. Later, the Red Story will likely simply have a picture of Brick himself (I'll try to find a good vertical picture to do him justice) and the Second War will likely show destroyed cities/Earth, so yeah._


	6. Chapter 5: A Plan's Fruition

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE FIRST WAR-  
Chapter 5: A Plan's Fruition

Bubbles crashes down the halls blasting all robots out of her way and opening the gates to let the people out as fast as possible. Everyone scrambles out of the cages, but one person asks- "Where do we go?" Bubbles stops in her tracks and thinks. The City is suspended in the air... the only way out is up.

"Stay on me. I'll get you guys out of here." They rush down the dimly lit halls, only a few robots remaining which Bubbles makes short work of. Bubbles bashes open the gates one by one before she has almost a hundred people at her back. They make it to a kind of elevator before Bubbles starts thinking...

Why are the Knights letting her do this? Shouldn't they be stopping her? As she thinks she can hear large explosions going off in the base.

"My sisters! They must be here! Come on, everyone into the elevator... it can only fit a couple of you at a time so I'll try to defend what I can. Women and children first!" As she says that she realizes there are no children, but she continues anyway.

People file into the elevator shaft and it goes to an upper level. Bubbles follows the elevator while in the shaft. The walls are coated in glass. She can see through it to see the absolutely gargantuan base that was sleeping below Megaville all this time.

More explosions go off and the people arrive on the upper level. Bubbles brings the elevator down as fast as she can to save as many people as possible. The structural integrity of the elevator begins to wane before even half the people arrive in the upper level! The cables snap and Bubbles lifts the elevator up herself!

Explosions begin to sound like they are getting closer so Bubbles has to do something drastic! After everyone on the elevator arrives at the upper level, she destroys the elevator and flies back to the bottom. She gathers everyone remaining and flies them up the shaft. As soon as they arrive at the top, a large scale explosion takes place on the base level... and all Bubbles can think about is Lynn.

"Please be safe..."

"Why haven't the Knights come for us yet...?" Lynn thinks to herself. She stands up as a large scale explosion blasts down the halls, nearly deafening! She walks up to the gate and rips it off its hinges and throws it to the side. The people in the prison are in awe. "You are-" – "If you tell anyone what I am I'll kill you myself! Now get out of here, save yourselves!" With a mixture of fear and gratitude, the people quickly escape the exploding floor.

Lynn runs down the halls with several of the people, before they arrive at a broken elevator shaft. She stares up at the upper floor. Several people here, though silent- have chosen to stick with Lynn. Probably a smart choice.

"Hold on." She says as she holds her arms out- people quickly grabbing onto them. She flies up the shaft, much to the peoples' surprise and she arrives at the top of the shaft. They detach from her and runaway, except one person. "Please... there are more people down there... you have to save them too." Right after he says that, a giant explosion that nearly caves in the floor erupts, blasting debris all over the area, the floor they were recently on was just destroyed...

"I'm sorry... but they are already dead... now RUN!" The man reluctantly accepts her words and runs away. Lynn turns around to the elevator shaft and looks through the glass windows. The entire lab is exploding, not just this area.

"What is causing this much destruction? Could it be the Powerpuff Girls...?" Lynn looks around at the haphazard wreckage. "No. They would never cause this much collateral damage if they knew people were here... so who...?"

After she asks the question to herself, she hears a high pitch scream followed by an amazing explosion that causes her eyes to dilate and a shocked expression to cross her face. "BELL?!"

"What are these explosions...? Is Bubbles doing this?" Dexter asks as the ground rumbles, the pavement below Megaville crumbling as plumes of fire and wreckage blast out of every crack.

A small distance away, another explosion takes place, but this time someone comes out of it. It's Bubbles!

"Guys, there are people down here that need help, please come as fast as possible! Who knows when the next explosion will occur?!" Without so much as a greeting, everyone rushes to action and fly into the hole in the ground and gather up as many people as possible. The hole is too small to support more than one person at a time.

"I GOT IT!" Coop blares as he digs Megas's hand into the pavement and carves out a hole which everyone flies out of. Countless people are saved as the explosions still erupt, shaking this floating city.

"What did you do down there, Bubbles?" Blossom asks now that everyone is safe. After that question something strikes Bubbles.

"Wait... it wasn't you guys who caused these explosions?" Bubbles asks, confused. She was so sure it was them causing it. "No, it wasn't us... we thought it was you." Buttercup says as the explosions continue.

They quickly muse before someone else crawls out of the hole in the ground. It's Lynn, with several people following her. Before she meets with everyone she turns around and whispers to everyone who followed her out.

"I never flew... I never had super strength... don't say ANY of this to ANYONE, got it?!" The people nod and thank her and run to the group.

She walks over to the group, who are glad she is safe. But they still all have the same question... what is causing these explosions? The explosions finally stop, leaving everyone to think in relative peace.

"So if it wasn't us... and it wasn't Bubbles... who is causing these explosions?" – "I know who's doing this, but I can hardly believe it myself..." – "Who?" Lynn looks up into Blossom's eyes with a burning certainty in them. These next words will be the absolute truth and Blossom can feel their intensity before they even leave her mouth.

"Bell..."

A short distance away, a giant pillar of fire explodes from beneath the road and a being flies out of it! It's not Bell, though... It's Micheal!

"Finally... it's over. Now we can begin!" He yells as a giant worm bursts out of the pavement and rushes to a Giant Building in the distance along with Micheal. The group is baffled that they are being completely ignored...

"We have to go after him. Who knows what he's going to do!" Dexter yells. "On it!" Coop yells as he chases down the worm, before the ground below him gives way! Two worms explode out of the ground and coil Megas! "COOP!" – "It's okay, I can take these sorry sons-a, you guys go stop Mike!" Dexter nods and flies off with the Powerpuff Girls, leaving Lynn with the civilians.

She beckons them away from the battle and over to a nearby one story building, where they can be somewhat safe for now.

They fly through the floating city, the clouds replaced with Ice Bergs and the sky replaced with an ocean. Micheal goes up the tallest building along with the worm as it coils around the sky scraper.

"What is he doing...?!"

The sun washing over the oceanic sky gives the city a kind of Atlantian feel to it. Sunset approaches, casting a red glow over the submerged city in the sky as Dexter and the Powerpuff Girls chase down Micheal to the tallest City in Megaville.

Megacorp.

The giant robotic worm coils around the building without damaging it and rests its head atop the pinnacle. Micheal also lands there. Dexter tries to approach them, but is beaten back by a strange dark field!

"Gah, wh-what is this?" Dexter grunts as he attempts to force his way through the field. No matter his attempts, it doesn't seem to budge. Whatever is casting this shield is stronger than anything he has punched through so far. It seems to be a black aura encompassing a large circle around the building. Dexter looks down to see that the base of the building is not effected. Perhaps they could enter it from the bottom and make their way up?

Dexter flies down only to have something zoom past his face. At first he is simply counting his blessing it didn't hit him, but then another passes by him... then another...

Dexter looks behind him to see a mortifying sight! The entire city is swarmed with flying machines, zipping around and breaking into buildings. A booming voice permeates the city:

"The people who have rejected the light... the people who were released from their atonement without having learned anything... they are beyond redemption. PURGE THE CITY!"

"OH NO!" Bubbles lets out as she flies to the robots, taking as many of them out as she can without waiting for her sisters to react! "Bubbles has the right idea, Micheal isn't important now! We have to make the city safe for the people!" Blossom says as she too flies to the city to do battle with the robots.

Dexter lands on the pavement and talks to Buttercup.

"I'm sorry, but this is something I feel I need to do, Buttercup." – "What do you mean?" – "I'm going up there. I have to know why I was needed, why they needed me for such a short time then cast me aside to die! I will take the fight to Micheal and get my answers, even if it's over his dead body. Please help these people... and if you can, find my parents. I have work to do!"

Buttercup seems speechless at first. The fire burning in Dexter's eyes, as if he is going on a journey he was waiting his whole life for, a journey he may not survive. Something more important than life itself. Buttercup smiles and nods.

"Don't die, Dexter." He nods and charges into the building. Buttercup looks up, the giant black aura around the city churning and ebbing as the red sunset distorts across the magical ocean in the sky. Buttercup flies back into the city to fight off the robots!

Dexter charges up the levels, D-Saber drawn, ready to finally come to an answer for all of this madness. These Knights used him, they used his sister... they are using Mandark! There are so many questions without any answer, but Dexter is adamant about this. He will climb to the top of this tower and get his answers, even if it means beating them out of any of the Knights! Any of them...

He slices and blasts through the token resistance in the building as the city begins to rumble... more and more machines flood the city being released from the base underneath Megaville. These truly are the end times. This isn't a game anymore- this is genocide!

To their horror, the machines aren't shooting mock blasts anymore. They are shooting to kill! The Powerpuff Girls do their best to block every attack and destroy all of the robots, but there are simply too many of them! Hundreds... thousands! The building Lynn stocked everyone in is no more, now a burning husk as everyone runs for their lives!

The ruins of the city offer no protection, the robots taking blind pot shots killing many people! Everyone, Megas included does what they can but there are thousands of these killing machines! Horror crosses their faces, as they never imagined it could have come to this!

Blood floods the streets as even more thousands of robots cascade into the city... this is genocide... this is madness...

"STOP IT!" Bubbles yells out, blasting hundreds of them away at once, only to have a thousand replace them... even in her pure rage, they know no end.

"This can't be happening...!" Blossom huffs, defending a dozen people, only to have a dozen die right in front of her. The city is being completely liquidated and there is nothing they can do about it...

"Oh my god..." Buttercup lets out as a giant worm bursts out of the ground and smashes an entire avenue, ending the lives of countless people in one blast...

The carnage and inhumanity ignites Dexter's purpose as he fights his way up the building as fast as possible! He nears the top floor, only to be met with three of the four knights...

Elly, Drax and Olga.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" Dexter yells out, drawing his weapons, gun in one hand and sword in the other.

"They turned away from the light. They refused to accept it." Elly responds.

"FUCK YOUR LIGHT!" He roars as he charges for her faster than he ever has before, catching her off guard as she barely has enough time to defend! The other two close in on Dexter as he rolls backwards and drops an ice charge on the ground, blanketing the area in blinding snow!

Through the blizzard, he charges Drax down and slams his head into a wall. Dexter has felt this way before. Absolute rage, the purest truth. But this time he feels like it has a kind of guidance... his rage is not a handicap... he feels like he is harnessing his rage to its purest form. A divine anger.

Drax recovers and all three of them charge him down only to have him lock his saber into every one of their weapons. Elly's Lance, Drax's Sword and Olga's Double Blades all clash with Dexter's single blade and to their horror, he is pushing all of them back as Dexter glows a bright gold!

"I WILL NOT LET ANY OF YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!" He yells as he cleaves the entire room, causing a huge explosion to blow away this entire level of the building.

The robots outside seem to finally be slowing down and the heroes finally get some semblance of control, as everyone is being protected. At least... everyone left...

The giant explosion near the top of the building catches Buttercup's eye. Blossom yells out: "Wait, where's Dexter?!" Buttercup points to the smoke rising from the building.

"He's on his own...?!" – "We have to save these people, Blossom... this is something he feels he has to do."

Dexter finds himself near the top of the building, all of the Knights other than Micheal beaten before him. He has no time to inflict his own brand of justice on them so he continues up to find the man himself.

This ends- TODAY!

Outside the building, the robot assault has finally been quelled, but something about this situation seems off...

Before anyone has a chance to react, giant balls of ice come crashing down, destroying countless buildings! Ice and sleet rip through the air as the sky comes falling down around them! The Powerpuff Girls jump to action to prevent a giant glacier from falling onto the people below and with help from Megas, they throw it off of the floating city.

As it falls they realize, the entire top half of the oceanic orb has come undone... but worse than that, they see why the robots have stopped coming!

They are all flying away from the city! Countless thousands of robots sprawl in all directions like a plague; the neighboring cities don't stand a chance!

"W-We need to go after them... r-right?" Bubbles stutters, clueless and scared.

"I... I don't know... we need to protect these people... but..." – "Don't worry. I'll get word to the other cities." Lynn lets out, whipping out a semi-futuristic looking device on her wrist.

"Will that be enough?" – "It has to be. There's no other option." Blossom gulps and nods. "R-Right..."

The red sunset comes to a close as the last rays of light end.

Dexter marches up the stairs. His rage chokes him, barely being able to tear his way from killing each and every one of those Knights, as they lay unconscious. He has something more important to do... someone more important to kill.

His blade drags from his limp hand, sparking along the ground as his eyes refuse to regain color. His rage both consumes and guides him. He has all rational thought, but this kind of unbridled fury grants him what feels like immortality...

"Dexter... you have always been an angry child... but now is the time to control your anger. Now is the time to put it to a higher purpose." Deedee whispers through the armor.

"My anger is what got you killed..." He says, while at the same time retaining his anger, slowly walking up the stairs to the final level.

"Dexter... Mandark was the one who killed me. Not you." – "You're wrong... he may have fired the gun, but I'm the one who loaded the bullet. Without my doing none of this would have ever happened." – "Don't talk like that- not now!" – "You misunderstand me... I am not going to stop. This kind of internal rage... that what I've done has spawned so much death around us... my source of anger is ME! I am my own worst enemy... I am my greatest power. Today, I put my self hatred to use. I will save this world and kill Mandark once and for all!"

He cleaves down the door to the roof and begins to climb.

"Wait... where's Ruby? Where's her mom?" Lynn asks, worried as she looks at the survivors.

"Ruby...? I don't know. I didn't see any children in the holding cells..." Bubbles responds, catching Lynn's ears. She's right. There was not a single child involved in any of this.

Then... where are they?

Lynn runs around the ruins of the city, now flooded in both magical water and the blood of those they failed to protect. The bodies of the people around them are gruesome, but it doesn't seem like Ruby's Mom was here. Lynn returns to the group.

"Any idea where the kids were taken?" – "Not just the kids... almost half of the people that were taken are unaccounted for." – "You don't think that... the exploding base..." Lynn hesitates to finish and shakes her head. "No... We can't lose hope. We have to find them."

Lynn casually walks back to the hole she crawled out of before, now widened by Megas's intervention. Bubbles tries to stop her, but she can't find the words. Instead, she runs down the hole with her.

Dexter stands atop the highest building in Megaville. Looking right into the eyes of Micheal, who stands on top of a massive crystal with scythe drawn.

The giant worm that coiled up the building looms over the top of the building, its giant maw closed... for now.

"Welcome, Dexter." – "SHUT THE HELL UP AND DIE!" He says as he brandishes his weapons and Micheal raises his hand as a gesture for him to stop.

"Surely, you want answers, first?" Dexter growls and lowers his weapon. His anger still so omnipresent that he can barely concentrate on anything other than ripping his throat out.

"WHY...?!" – "Why are we doing this? A fine question. Let me explain." He says as he floats down off of the massive crystal that encompasses more than half of the entire roof area, scythe still drawn.

"Such a long time ago, I had a dream. More of a vision, really. A vision of the world in its perfect state. One both guided by and living for God." – "YOU'RE INSANE!" Dexter roars as he grinds his teeth, but still holds himself back from attacking.

"Insane? Dexter... I have seen God myself. I have seen everything. I have seen the world before the light... the world without the light... and what happens if you resist me this day. The absolute darkness that awaits us all if you resist. Dexter... it's not too late to turn back."

"Turn back...?! TURN BACK?! Is that what this is to you?! Something I just have to 'turn back' from?! I will NEVER turn back, not again! I will fight you, I will beat you, I will kill you and I will fix all the damage you caused! The lives you have broken today scream for your blood, Micheal!"

"I see. Then I guess today is the day. I will bring this world into the light and nothing you can do here can possibly stop me- not with Model M on my side!" Micheal yells as the crystal ebbs a solid black color and Micheal glows gray and surges with power!

His scythe triples in size and becomes double bladed. The ice upon it morphs into steel and bone.

The entire floating island rumbles and quakes as the giant black aura over the building fades. The clouds in the sky churn and swirl around the pinnacle of the building.

The fight to decide the future of the world is about to begin.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Probably the first truly "dark" part of the First War so far, and it's about to get a whole lot darker too. Dexter's first steps into anti-hero start here, being surrounded by, hunted by, and finally hunting monsters of similar caliber, Dexter finds himself almost disgustingly comfortable with the taking of another human being's life. This is only the First War, when this all comes crashing down, who knows how it all ends?_


	7. Pre-Epilogue: The Belle in White

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE FIRST WAR SUBSTORY-  
-The Belle in White-  
Act 1

A kind of soothing darkness permeates the area, the sound of beings moving about ever a constant. This shadowy area has seen a downfall of activity and it seems that an ever-present calm has fallen over it.

In a small well-lit room off to the side, a young girl in white plays with her dog. From a glance, she seems to be normal in all ways- giggling happily and hugging her pet. Yet anyone who has gotten a chance to know her knows she is far from normal.

"Okay. That's enough for today." The girl says, standing up along with her strange dog. She walks over to a conspicuous terminal along the wall of her heavily decorated childish room, kicking toys away as she walks to it.

"It's time to do what daddy said. So now that we're set, we can go! You ready, Girly?" – "Yes, Yes! A hundred times, Yes!" The odd 'thing' lets out as the girl lets off an innocent smile as she begins to access the terminal.

In a mere instant, the room around them ebbs and whirls, a disorienting sight. "Wha... g-getting nauseous...!" The strange dog lets out as the girl kneels down and rubs his belly causing him for forget his illness and huff and pant as if it were a real dog. In a few short moments, the room stops spinning and they find themselves elsewhere.

"Okay, let's go, Girly!" – "Hup Hup!" They both walk out of the dark room and into the sunlight. Across the horizon they see a city. Of course, it is none other than Megaville, the City of heroes!

Less than a day ago, a large disturbance was felt in the northern Mountains of Megaville. Shortly after, the entire city came under attack. From that time, Doctor X of Black Eden has been incredibly curious as to the goings on in Megaville, but in depth scanning is impossible without going to the source.

So he sent his daughter Bell to scout it out. She is very strong and capable. X doesn't think that this mission of hers has any real danger attached to it. He, like everyone else involved in this war, is going to learn that there is no safety from these wars. Not even for someone as powerful as Bell.

Bell casually walks into the western suburb of Megaville and is met with fleeing people. They run past her without as much as making eye contact. "Girly, scanning time!" – "OH BOY!" Gir's head opens up to reveal a kind of satellite dish and it spins around, scanning the area.

They walk on, Gir making a bunch of beep and boop noises with his mouth, the noises obviously not helping the scan, but Bell doesn't seem to mind.

The gentle wind picks up and Bell's hair reacts beautifully. Bell herself doesn't seem to care too much about the fair weather and continues on. Gir stops in his tracks and sniffs his hand, before pointing up.

"Captain, there's something ANOMALOUS up there!" He says with a dumb grin on his face, a giant dish sticking out of his head. Bell looks up the windmill. "Well, let's go see, shall we?" She asks as she picks Gir up and flies to the top of the tower.

She lands at the top and she sees someone. It appears to be a woman in green armor, tending to a strange silver and black crystal. She hasn't noticed Bell yet. She talks to herself all the while.

"Soon... this world will know Model M's power... not even Dexter can stop this." – "Dexter, huh?" Bell asks inquisitively, causing the green-clad woman to rapidly turn around and adopt a defensive position, before she realizes the girl up here isn't anyone she was expecting.

"Who are you, kid?" – "You may call me Bell- but I will be the one asking the questions, GOT IT?!" Bell snaps with an unexpected bit of hostility, causing the green girl to flinch a small bit before she regains her footing. Bell continues:

"You mentioned Dexter. You are his enemy?" – "Y-Yeah... he's going to come here soon and I'm going to kill him." – "Kill him?" Bell gasps. The girl squints, wondering the intentions of this strange girl butting in on her plans.

"Is there something wrong with killing him?" – "You can't do it. We tried." – "We? Who are you anyway?" Bell smiles a small bit and picks Girly up. "I already told you, I'm Bell. My daddy said that Dexter 'reached his full potential' and so we can't kill him."

"Yeah well, Dexter has a lot more to learn. He's not in his prime yet- and I'll prove it by mounting his broken corpse on my spear. Model M has no further use for Dexter's life now that Model D is awakened." – "Models? I heard you talking about that when I landed. What are they?" – "Is this an interview?" Bell scowls and puts Gir down.

"It would be wise to do what I say." – "Enough. I am not taking orders from a little bitch like you! THUNDER LANCE!" She roars as a lightning rod strikes the middle of the Windmill and she picks it up, pointing it at Bell.

Bell charges her down, Gir all the while singing about floating like a butterfly or something like that. The woman Dodges her nimbly but fails to land any real attacks either. She is amazed that this little girl is so fast, but the woman ceases to worry about her wellbeing and toys with her a little bit.

She jumps back and blocks every one of Bell's attacks with one hand, much to Bell's surprise. A human is overpowering her! Bell jumps back and puts her arms down.

"Who are you...?" She asks. She is not tired, but she recognizes the futility of this combat. "I am Elly, one of the four Knights. I will use Model M to bring this world into the light and rebuild it in an image long forgotten!" – "Noble... now, what is Model M, this crystal?" She asks, looking at the strange geode.

As she looks at it, it seems to resonate a small bit, causing the woman to raise an eyebrow. "Curious..." – "How so?" – "Model M seems to recognize you..." Bell shakes her head- "That's impossible. I've never seen this before in my life." – "Maybe he's seen you in 'his' life?" – "He?"

Bell is very curious about the crystal and approaches it without her guard up. The girl could have used this moment to land a killer blow, but instead she puts away her thunder lance and joins Bell next to the metallic crystal.

Gir walks up to it and puts his hand on it. "It's afraid..." He lets out, before breaking out into laughter and walking off elsewhere.

The crystal shines and blinks. Something spectacular to look at to be sure.

"Did you know Susan before he died?" The girl asks. Bell looks over with a strange twinkle in her eye. "S-Susan...? What does Susan have to do with this...?" The woman can see the want in her eyes. She DID know Susan and was apparently very close to him. She puts her hand on the crystal and talks to Bell.

"Model M- this crystal, is Susan, Bell." – "What...? But, how?" The woman smiles and continues. "Micheal, our leader brought him back with help from Olga. Do you know Olga too?" Bell pauses a small moment and shakes her head. "No, I don't... the name isn't familiar." – "She is Susan's sister."

Bell looks back over to the crystal with a mixture of emotions in her eyes. She begins to talk to the woman again.

"This crystal gave off the same reading a large explosion a day ago gave off. Would you know why?" The green girl sighs. "Yeah, I would. The largest of our Model Ms were destroyed by three random soldiers. We underestimated them and it cost us dearly. We managed to scavenge a few crystals from the wreckage and from it... this was born." She says as she pats the crystal again.

"I see. Thank you for your time." Bell says with choked up haste. "Come on, Girly. We are going home." She picks Gir up and begins to fly away. As she flies off, she notices that a large storm picks up and a powerful whirlwind expands near the top of the Windmill, where the Green Woman was.

She lands back in the dark cave and accesses the terminal to return to Black Eden.

Telling Dr. X all about the woman in green and the entirety of what Model M is and how it relates to Susan and the energy detected a day ago, Bell finds herself anxious to be sent back out to investigate further. X considers her pleas to return, but is cautious due to the fact that the Woman was far stronger than her.

X was sure that there were no beings left in Megaville that could Challenge Bell one on one, but it appears he was wrong. Although it is risky to send Bell back to the city of heroes, he must find out what is going on.

Bell goes once again to get involved in the Chronometal Wars. Will she ever return?

* * *

Without missing a beat, Bell returns to Megaville... this time, without Gir. She fears for his safety with these people.

"Susan..." She mutters to herself. Bell has never been known to be so distant. Odd, yes... perhaps even insane... but she has always found her comfort from those around her. She lived her life through her friends and family... and now she goes to see an old friend... one she almost called "Brother." Maybe even more...

The weather has died down last time she's been here and the sun has set a while ago. However, the night is very deep... but she is seemingly guided through the darkness to the north of Megaville. There she finds a smoldering ruin. She jumps into it and is immediately bombarded with an odd feeling.

She kneels down and picks up a strange crystal shard. She thinks about what that woman from the other day said. How that crystal was somehow Susan. This shard seems to be a part of that crystal...

"S... S-Susan...? Can... You hear me?" She timidly speaks into the crystal in the palm of her hands. The embers around her crackle peacefully. The crystal in her hand glows a soft gray coloration before she feels someone behind her.

She turns her head around to see a strange man in a blue suit of armor.

"Who are you?" Bell asks. The man in blue bows curiously. "I am the one who is helping to bring your friend back from the dead. You may call me Micheal."

Bell turns her entire body around and walks toward him slowly. "How...? How is this crystal him? I-It's just a rock..." He reaches out and takes the crystal from her and holds it up to her eye.

"Just a rock? Perhaps. Merely a case, holding the more important aspect of his existence. His soul." He takes the crystal and puts it back into her hands and curls her fingers around it.

"What are our bodies if not merely cases for our immortal souls? But... I digress. This is not his true shape. That, we shall see tomorrow." – "T-Tomorrow?! Susan's coming back tomorrow?!" Bell asks, excited- a large smile crossing her face!

Micheal nods and turns around. "Well, tomorrow, yes... but we are a little short-handed. If we don't get some help it may not happen at all." – "N-No! What kind of help do you need?" Bell begs, running in front of him.

"Well... his human form is unstable... so many crystals have been shattered that it is no longer a certainty that his true form can be maintained safely." – "So what can I do?" – "Hmm... you can help us test his human form." Bell's eyes dart back and forth...

"What can I do to help with that?" Micheal holds out his hand, beckoning her to grab it. "Allow me to show you." Bell hesitantly holds his hand and before they know it, the entire area around them twists and contorts before they appear in the middle of a large mechanical metropolis!

"W-Wow...! What is this place?" Bell asks, wandering off and star struck. "Impressed? I've been building this place for many years. Almost twenty. Now finally, the time has come for it to all be worth it. If Mandark can be successfully resurrected tomorrow, this world will finally be delivered back into the light."

Bell turns around, not sure what question to ask next...

"Where's Olga?" – "Come again?" – "Susan's sister... where is she? I want to meet her..." Micheal thinks a small moment before responding.

"She's busy right now, fighting the person who is destroying all of our crystals." – "Someone's been destroying them...?! Who? Can I help you stop them?" – "His name isn't important. We have him under control. As for you helping Susan, come right this way."

Micheal walks into a separate room. Bell takes one last look at this underground factory... there are so many robots here... it reminds her of Black Eden before the Cluster went away...

She enters the room and to her surprise, it's rather small. There are only a few machines in here. There are drawings and schematics on the wall. All with the same pattern and date. A person with a bunch of wires behind them... and...

Tomorrow.

"Now, this is merely a test. A test to see if you are compatible." – "Compatible? With what?" – "Why, Susan of course." Bell thinks to herself, not sure what to make of this situation.

"Compatible with... Susan...? What do you mean?" – "What I mean is, without you- Susan will NEVER come back! We need your help." – "O-Okay... alright... I'll do your test." She walks up to the center of the machine in this room as Micheal goes over to a nearby console.

He presses a couple buttons and noises can be heard around Bell. She isn't comfortable with this at all, but the prospect of bringing Susan back is more powerful than her doubts.

"You are going to feel a small pinch." After he says that, a machine skewers her arm and draws blood. Then another... and another. One in her leg, one in her back. The pain isn't too bad, but the sensation is frightening. Before she knows it, five different needles are sticking out of her body.

"I-I don't want to do this anymore!" Bell yells as she rips away from the machines and out of the door. Micheal merely stands in awe of the situation and sighs.

"Kids..."

He walks out of the room, Bell is hunched over the wall grabbing her chest and breathing deeply. She looks over, tears growing in her eyes. Micheal thinks to himself...

"I'm... sorry if I scared you. I can take you out of here if you want." He extends his hand once more and Bell just looks at it. She sniffles and rubs her eyes.

"I-I just need t-time to... to think... that's all..." She says as she grabs onto his hand and soon finds herself in the rubble north of Megaville once more.

She looks into the sky as the darkness begins to wane.

"You don't have to do this... but you don't have a lot of time to choose either. If by tomorrow- wait..." He says as he checks the time.

"Sorry, if by Eight Hours from now, you haven't done this... I'm afraid all of our efforts will be wasted. The binding process will be aborted and we won't be able to bring Mandark back. Not just that, but I fear the enemy we are fighting will have destroyed everything we worked for by then. Just look around you."

Bell looks around the smoldering ruin, she wasn't really curious as to what it was before, but now she can understand the gravity of the situation.

This looks just like the factory she was just in...

"The person you are fighting... they did all of this?" – "All of it. In less than an hour no less. We never expected them to even live to this point, let alone destroy over half of our production so soon. I'm afraid we will have to abort if we can't bring Susan back in the time I told you."

Bell stands over the wreckage thinking, before Micheal speaks up once more, this time with a different sounding voice- as if he just heard bad news.

"Speak of the devil... I have to go now, Bell. Make your choice. I'll come see you again here in seven hours. If you aren't here, I'll understand." He says as he disappears, leaving Bell alone.

The sun starts rising again...

Bell returns once more to Black Eden, but she doesn't tell X about the needles... or the factory... she only tells him about the people who want to bring Susan back.

He laughs heartily at the concept of restoring life, but Bell doesn't find it funny. She seems incredibly distant and X can see how serious this is to her.

X seriously considers if she should be allowed back to Megaville, but she pleads with him that she must go back in a few hours.

She MUST go back...

* * *

Bell sits in her room and looks around. Everything she sees is reminiscent of a little girl's room, a room of pure innocence and comfort from the pains of the outside world.

So then, why does it feel like her world is ending...?! "Daddy...!" She mutters under her own breath again and again...

X has forbidden her from returning to Megaville.

Bell turns over to meet Gir, who only just now entered the room; even he seems to be taking this at least somewhat seriously. He walks over to her and snuggles up, Bell more than happy to have someone to hold.

"Girly... I have a chance to bring Susan back... should I disobey Daddy? I mean... he was like a brother to me... and with my help they could bring him back! B-But... Daddy thinks they are dangerous..."

Gir releases himself from her embrace and raises a finger. Bell is confused for a moment, until he points that finger to her chest. "Listen to your heart, it's always right." – "G-Girly...?" He merely looks back. Bell has never seen Gir act like this before.

"Are... are you being serious?" Bell asks, desperate. Gir nods with a dumb grin on his face. Bell smiles and begins to cry tears of happiness. She hugs Girly dearly. "Thank you, Gir...! Don't tell Daddy I'm gone..." She rises up and wipes her eyes clean and runs out of her room.

The teleportation device in her own room is deactivated, but there is another near the entrance to Black Eden that hasn't been used since the Darkstar Council suffered a miserable defeat a while ago. There are cameras set up all over Black Eden that X is watching at all times, so Bell needs to be careful.

She sneaks around dead zones and zips past cameras with low vision, careful to not be seen or heard. A few minutes later, she finds herself at the entrance. The teleportation pad is viewed by several cameras and Bell can't find any way to sneak past this final challenge, which is until Gir shows up.

Without trading so much as a word to each other, Gir rips out some cords and begins to chew on them, causing the nearby level to short circuit! Primary systems reactivate first, such as the Teleportation pad- but secondary systems will activate soon! Such as cameras...

"Thank you so much Girly! I won't forget this!" She says as she enters the pad and quickly disappears. Gir stands there for a short moment before walking off. He takes a white wig out from somewhere and puts it on before he walks off toward Bell's room.

Bell runs off toward the ruin from before, but she is intercepted by someone.

"Ah, Bell. You have come. I take it you wish to partake in the test?" Micheal says from the shadows. Rain falls all around them giving this moment a particularly tense feeling. Bell nods.

"Yes. I will do anything to get Susan back! Anything!" Micheal smiles and holds out his hand. "Well then... shall we go?" Bell grabs onto his hand, leaving no room for doubt anymore.

They are in the base, but something is different- MUCH different!

"Who... who are all of these people...?!" Bell asks, confused and surprised. She walks over to the glass pane that overlooks the entirety of the factory she saw before. There are people in it! More people than she can count!

"These are the chosen, Bell. They will help us bring back Susan- just like you." – "Them? How will they help?" – "Their holy essence is what we need to awaken Model M's dormant powers. Your holy essence is what we need to awaken Susan himself." – "I... don't completely understand, but I'll help."

"Good!" Micheal says as a deep rumbling is felt! It sounds like a spaceship has just taken off! Everyone in the facility covers their ears as the rumbling permeates the very air! All Micheal does is smile...

(============== (Elsewhere, in a soundproof cell.) =============)

"You are the last person we have to interview." – "Please... what do you want with us?" The woman lets out, at her wit's end. The girl in the purple armor sits down across the table from her and throws something to the woman.

"Look in that." The purple girl says. The woman hesitantly opens up the item, a kind of file to see what's within. What she sees causes her to cover her mouth.

"R-Ruby...?! What have you done with my daughter?!" – "Nothing, Rose. She is innocent in all of this. You, however... we need you to help us." – "I won't do it! Let my daughter go!" – "Keep this up and I might actually do that."

"What...? What do you mean?" The purple knight activates a monitor that both she and Rose look at. "What in the...?!" She stammers. "Is this for real?" – "Yes, Rose. We are flying. In the air. Not just that, but in a few minutes, a lot of our droids will be released to take out anyone who we deemed unworthy. That is, anyone who is NOT within this base."

"Not within... oh..." – "Do you see now? HERE is the safest place for her. Outside, all she has to look forward to is a couple mile drop, or mechanical warfare. CHOOSE, NOW!" – "WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?!" Rose yells, slamming her hands on the table, willing to do anything for her daughter.

"Good..."

* * *

"Yes, YES! This is PERFECT!" Micheal yells as Bell winces at the pain of everything that is happening.

"There is just one... final... step..." He says, almost giddy as he presses one final button labeled: 'M'. As soon as the button is pressed, a dark black liquid is drained into Bell and her eyes go wide!

"HYAAAAAAAAHHH!" She screeches, the pain too excruciating to bear, even though she is fully mentally prepared!

"What, what is this?! Everything was going perfectly... are you incompatible with Susan's pure soul?" – "IT HURTS! MAKE IT STOP!" She yells, ripping herself from the conduits! The dark energy continues to seep into Bell, causing her to yell even louder and feel even more pain!

"NOOOOO! STOP IT, PLEASE!" She yells, grabbing her head in an attempt to dull the pain! Micheal at first seems terrified, but he overviews the last reading he got from the test.

100% Match... "Okay, Bell... calm do-OOOOOH!" He tries to say before she blasts him through the wall, causing this level of the factory to explode! She rips the black wire out of her head as the factory ebbs and fluctuates!

"IT STILL HURTS! WHY?!" She crashes around in the lab causing massive damage and machines to explode! A worm coils its way out of its tunnels in an attempt to hold Bell, but she musters some freak strength that manages to hold the worm by the maw and slam it into the factory! The people scream and run away as the worm falls through the factory, causing massive explosions!

The entire base is exploding and Bell still cant find any solace from this pain she is in! "WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS TO ME?!" Bell roars, standing over Micheal. Micheal opens his mouth, but Bell has had enough! She is filled with so much anger and dark energy that she no longer tolerates his life and she lunges for his throat!

 ***THWACK!***

The noise reminiscent of a baseball bat breaking over an anvil is heard as Astro bashes Bell over the head, causing her to pass out. Micheal rubs his head and rises from his position. "Good work... Astro..." He says half heartedly as he looks over the lab.

"You go. You are needed above. I'll take care of Bell and the people. She should be ready soon. I'll make sure of that." – "Alright..." He says as he looks over the wreckage. He begins to fly off, but before that he turns around.

"He will be back soon, Olga... your brother will finally be back..." – "Where have I heard that before? I won't hold my breath..." Micheal diverts his eyes, knowing that his previous attempts were foiled by would-be heroes before.

"This is different. We finally have a proxy this time. Bell... Bell is the key that will open the door to our success! You'll see!" He says as he fires up through the wreckage of the lab.

Olga looks down to the girl in her arms, her face still showing signs of excruciating pain, tears going down her eyes and teeth clenched. Wires and tubes sticking out of her back, her clothing torn and her skin cut and sliced.

"You...? You are the key? You're... you're still just a little girl. Hah... when I saw you all those years ago I thought the same thing... such a little girl with such great power... I used to envy you, Bell... but, not anymore. Not with what you have to go through soon."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _This was "The Belle in White" initially spread throughout the First War on Snafu-Comics, but I decided to frontload them all at the end of Chapter 5 on Fanfiction. This covers Bell's involvement in the first war, which has always been a major curiosity to everyone on the outside. In the original story, Barasia herself said she wasn't 100% sure how Bell ended up how she did, and that Otto recognized that in order to make a Chronometal, you need a ROBOTIC soul- but Bell was made into a Chronometal anyway. So, her involvement was always mired in confusion, and here is how it all plays out._

 _This whole story STARTS at around chapter 1, while the final stretch spans the end of Chapter's 4 and 5, before eventually leading into the Epilogue._


	8. First War Epilogue: Fates Intersect

The Chronometal Wars  
The First War: Epilogue  
Fates Intersect

Micheal charges Dexter down, giant scythe drawn with his own armor being infused with the power of the crystallized Model M.

Dexter's pure rage is enough to hold back the attacks, but he can't push forward... it seems Micheal is also being driven by powerful emotions. He doesn't show it, however. He has spent so much time hiding his emotions as he conducted his research and committing these atrocities... but now they are pouring out into his scythe, grinding Dexter into the scaffolding!

The scythe is absolutely massive- twice the size of a normal human. The weight is nothing to cough at either... it's well over a ton of divine power, wielded by a man who would sacrifice anything and everything to bring this world back into the light.

"I won't let you win...!" Dexter huffs, wincing under the sheer pressure Micheal is exerting. "If you have a single bone in your body in tune with what is right- you will LET me win!" – "What's right?! Grr... You are really starting to get... on... MY... NERVES!" Dexter yells as he bats the scythe away and goes on the offensive!

The massive double bladed weapon clashes with Dexter's golden energy swords time and time again, causing shockwaves to ripple out! The debris on the roof being blown off and even the large crystal that is Model M is starting to crack under the intense pressure of the battle!

Micheal overpowers Dexter time and time again, but Dexter refuses to stay down! The city around him burns an ominous red as the sun refuses to fully set. The streets are flooded with blood, the buildings crushed by glaciers and burned by energy fire... yet here Micheal is- preaching about "what is right..."

"There is only one truth here, Micheal..." – "And that is?" – "That you have killed hundreds of people... and are going to kill hundreds more. I don't give a damn about your vision... the ends will never justify the means and so help me- I will see you sent to your own personal Hell!"

He bats the scythe over and over, Micheal now starting to buckle under the pressure, as does the crystal! He smashes his blade into Micheal's weapon over and over and over and over! The ground cracks and crumbles, energy waves blast away from every hit, distorting the shield around Megacorp!

"Guys, look!" Blossom says, pointing to the building! The shield ebbs and swirls, losing power quickly!

"I bet we could break through that!" – "Yeah, let's go!" The Powerpuff Girls take to the air to enter themselves into this battle as well! They rise to the pinnacle to see Dexter and Micheal fighting, Dexter apparently winning.

All three of the girls charge the shield at once and it shatters, causing energy to spill into the area around them and funnel straight into Micheal, who turns the tides and bashes Dexter away onto the ground!

"DEXTER!" Blossom yells out as all three of them charge Micheal down! He raises his weapon and holds all three of them off with relative ease! He pushes them back and smacks them away with the blunt end of the scythe.

"This is not your battle, little girls. This is between two men and their visions of the future." – "Oh, get the hell over yourself!" Buttercup blurts out, quickly rising back to the skyscraper! Micheal readies himself to smack her away, but she attacks the crystal instead!

"BUTTER... CRUSH!" She roars as she slams her hand onto the top of the crystal causing energy to cascade, blowing chunks of it to the wind, where Bubbles quickly grabs them and crushes them into nothing.

"No! Stop that you meddlesome child!" – "And squander this perfect opportunity to stop you? I think not." Blossom freezes an area of the crystal with her breath and shatters it with a strong blow, while Bubbles screams so intensely that portions of it instantly shatter!

"Enough of this!" Micheal yells as thousands of robots rise around the building.

"You think they are going to stop us? We will destroy however many you have!" – "Oh, these aren't for you..." As he says that, the robots all take off for the house Lynn has the people stored in!

"D-Damn it!" Buttercup yells as she instantly takes off without another thought. Bubbles trails behind her, but Blossom hesitates.

"Dexter! Wake up!" She screams as loud as she can. Dexter shakes his head and barely regains consciousness. "Blossom...?" He looks over with half open eyes to see her fly away. He looks over to Micheal and remembers why he's here! He rises to his feet and draws his weapon again. Micheal looks back and chuckles a small bit, his scythe being held in only one hand as he lazily walks over.

"You are still going to resist? You have no legs to stand on! You're running on empty, Dexter. You're out of energy, you have no motivation, you have no backup... you're done."

"It's... not over... until you've lost, Micheal... It's not over... until I put you... AND Mandark... into the dirt." He huffs, struggling to even stand. Micheal looks over to Model M. The crystal's shell is shattered... being attacked directly caused massive damage- but Micheal still seems pleased.

"This isn't over yet Dexter. Neither your death nor mine would stop what's coming soon." Dexter ponders his words. He too looks over at Model M.

"What about... HIS DEATH!?" Dexter yells as he charges down the crystal, catching Micheal off guard! He rushes to intercept Dexter, only to have him lunge out at him! He played him like an instrument...

In one fell swoop, the tables flipped. This time for good. Micheal laughs at the irony of thinking so far ahead that even the most ham-fisted strategies seemed out of sight... He laughs and laughs, coughing up blood before Dexter retracts his blade and Micheal slumps to the ground, laughing and curling up in a pool of his own blood.

"So... basic-*COUGH*... your plan. I mean... is this... how it all ends...? In a pool of my OWN FUCKING BLOOD...?!" He hacks and coughs before he finally goes silent.

Dexter limps over to the end of the building and looks down, The Powerpuff Girls barely able to keep the robot assault under control.

"I have to help them!" He says to himself, getting ready to jump off the building.

"Don't you want to stay for the after-show?" A familiar voice is heard behind Dexter. He turns around and meets her face to face.

"Olga. It's over. Micheal is dead. I'm going to save those people's lives- and you are not going to stop me." – "Oh, I can't stop you. You proved that much by taking three of us on at once and breaking us down in one fell swoop. But I'M not the person you need to stay for."

The sun finally fully sets and a deep rumbling can be felt from the crystal embedded in the building as a sinking feeling is felt in the pit of Dexter's stomach.

"The time has come for Susan to come back!" After she says that, a spectacular array of lights emit from Model M! Black, White, Red, Blue- indeed all colors and it brightens and darkens the areas around them!

The crystal breaks and a shape begins to coalesce from the wreckage! What seems like a giant mechanical head is born from the crystalline formation, but not even relevant to the shape is the fact that the crystal is emitting a kind of Power Dexter cannot even fathom! It smothers him and it makes it hard to breathe this energy laden air!

"FINALLY!" A booming voice breaks through the sky! The metallic crystalline head that is Model M speaks, surprising Dexter. It looks over to him and breaks into a small grin.

"Dexter... It's been too long. Soon I shall return... but before then, we have some unfinished business!" – "Our business finished years ago, Mandark!" – "Not quite! Before this day is over, you will follow me back to the afterlife, Dexter!"

Dexter looks back and notices Olga is far gone, as if she fled this location. The entire top of the building is ignited and Dexter scrambles to a patch of stone that is not on fire! Giant segments of concrete are ripped from their base by Model M! Dexter scrambles to keep footing on his patch of ground as it is suspended in the air, surrounded by fire seemingly hotter than possible!

"One false step and it's all over, Dexter" – "Yeah, well- unlike you, I'm good on my feet!" He jumps from rock to rock and strikes Model M square in the head, but is blasted back, only to barely hold onto one of the suspended blocks.

"Is that all you got?" Mandark taunts. Dexter growls, not sure how to handle this situation...

The giant head begins to float toward Dexter through the flames, his eyes reflecting the divine fire.

"I gotta say, Mandark... I never expected you to come back like this." – "I'm not quite back yet- only maintaining my consciousness through this Malevolent Shell. Soon- assuming you are still alive; you will see what true resurrection is!" Dexter stands on top of the floating stone and ponders his options... frontal attack is no good, but there's nothing else he can do! The energy around him is so suffocating that he can't gyrate the energy enough to fly, either.

"Need help?" Blossom yells out of nowhere, blowing icy breath across the battle, causing the flames to vanish! Model M turns around to meet her. "Blossom... I see you're still alive. It's a shame you didn't stay dead that day!"

As he says that, Dexter runs across the now cooled ground behind him and puts all of his power into cleaving a possible weak spot! "HAYAAAA!" He yells, cutting right through the red crystal amidst the entirety of the Purple Model M!

Mandark instantly turns around and blasts Dexter away with an energy beam, reigniting the field. Blossom attempts to help, but Model M conjures crystal beings from thin air that go to attack the civilians!

"D-Dexter...! I have to go! BE SAFE!" She yells as she reluctantly goes to stop the enemies. Dexter rises before the fire reaches him and perches himself onto another of the floating stones. Model M is not amused anymore.

"Enough of this- just die already!" He yells as he fires another giant ray of energy at Dexter! He has barely enough time to jump to another stone held afloat amidst the thick energy field cast off by Model M.

The building they are fighting on completely collapses, save the roof which is being held in an energy field! The giant worm still perches over the battlefield.

"Why are you doing this, Mandark?!" – "Because I want you to die- that's all!" – "These guys were preaching about you being some kind of messiah... you don't seem very holy to me." – "And you'd be right!" He responds, confusing Dexter.

"I've died more than just once, Dexter. This is not the first time I've taken the form of Malevolence. I have been destroyed in this form once. Every time I regenerate, a little bit of the initial energy within me fades... leaving me more and more empty."

"Energy? Like what?" – "The initial soul, Dexter. Mandark's soul- MY soul. As I am broken and reconstituted I am more and more diluted. There is hardly anything left anymore. These fools refused to see this. I am not Mandark, I AM MALEVOLENCE!" He roars as he fires energy beams across the entire battlefield, causing bits of stone to fly everywhere! Dexter can barely jump out of the way!

"There is no way you can defeat me... as Mandark's soul breaks, I grow into more of a being far beyond your comprehension! My power is legendary! You cannot hope to beat me on your own!"

"That's why we're here! BUTTERCRUSH KICK!" Buttercup yells, crashing into the red Crystal behind Malevolence, causing him to recoil into the flame, putting them out!

He turns around to fire another blast at her, but Dexter musters all of the energy he can into this one blow!

"Dexter, if you don't put EVERYTHING into this- Buttercup will die! You can't let her die!" Deedee yells into him! Both Deedee and Dexter put their strength into this one attack that seems to take eons to finally be swung!

Time stops around the area and the blade finally makes contact with the crystal- SHATTERING IT completely!

"GAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Model M roars as all of the robots and crystal beings shut down at once! The dense energy field around the top of the building fluctuates and nearly gives way, but the worm coils around it and prevents it from falling.

The giant head collapses on the ground, seemingly lifeless. Blossom and Bubbles fly up, now that the robots are finally taken care of.

"Is it over...?" Bubbles asks. "I think so..." Dexter responds, before something catches their eyes and ears. The worm opens up and expels something near Model M. It seems to be a person...

"Wait... is th-that...?!" Blossom stutters as the being rises. It is a girl, wires and machinery sticking out of her. She has white hair and is wearing a white dress.

"B-Bell...? Is that you...?" She looks over to Blossom with emotionless eyes. She opens her mouth as her entire face twists and contorts- Model M showing signs of life again! Energy from Model M begins to creep over the wires sticking out of Bell and she begins to speak-

"Susan... come back..."

A tense wind blows...

Without anyone being able to understand what could possibly be going on or how Bell could be involved, mechanical formations from Malevolence creep over the wires hanging out of Bell's back and every opening is smothered with dark energy!

Black liquid and solid mechanical parts force themselves into Bell, but her eyes show no pain- not anymore.

Everyone stands in awe of the situation until Bell shows signs of life. Her arm snaps and breaks into place, machine parts bursting out of her skin! "BEGONE!" She roars, blasting everyone off the platform and into central Megaville! The giant worm that was once suspending this area is also blown away, causing everything around Bell to fall to pieces!

The remaining pieces of Malevolence bind themselves to Bell, puncturing her skin and causing it to erupt with mechanical devices! Everyone has barely enough time to regain their footing from the several hundred foot fall to look at her final transformation!

Every bit of the crystal forces its way into Bell and she fires off towards them! They put up their arms in defense, but she does not strike them. They open their eyes to see she is merely floating there. She has almost tripled in size, every appendage invaded by robotic things. Her bones snap back into place and they find themselves basking in a deep energy even more powerful than Malevolence!

"Dexter..." Dexter perks up his ears and responds- "Mandark...?" – "Not quite. I am... something... more. Something greater. I am not Malevolence, nor Mandark, nor Bell. I am... I... am... the strongest any of us have EVER BEEN!" Her voice booms out, laden with a mixture of feminine and masculine chords- Mandark is speaking through her as she talks!

The sky erupts as she flaunts her powers to cause an energy tempest!

"I am a God, Dexter. Today, you die- but not before I have some fun!" Mandark and Bell yell out as a familiar energy rises in the sky. It looks like the whirlpool summoned by Micheal.

"Wasn't... that keeping Megaville up...?!" Buttercup asks as they begin to feel lighter all of a sudden.

"OH NO!" Bubbles yells, noticing rubble rising from the pavement! The city has entered free-fall! "What do we do...?!" Buttercup yells, unsure of anything!

"Girls, come on! We have to keep this place from hitting the ground too hard!" Blossom commands, as she flies off the edge. "But- what about Dexter?!" – "We have no choice! He can take care of himself, COME ON!" Bubbles and Buttercup reluctantly follow Blossom down the Cliffside to help keep Megaville in the air, or at least stop it from reaching terminal velocity.

Rain begins to fall from the darkened sky as Dexter finds himself one on one with perhaps his greatest foe yet...

Mandark rushes Dexter with a giant mechanical blade and he barely has enough time to jump out of the way! The strike hits the ground so hard that Dexter is still completely blown away by the force of the attack! He cannonballs into a building as it comes down around him!

Dexter tries to erupt from the rubble to get some kind of a sneak attack on Mandark, but as soon as he emerges Mandark is already firing a volley of black arrows at his location! He scurries as fast as he possibly can to avoid them! As they hit the ground, they explode- sending him flying once more!

Mandark and Bell seem to be enjoying this greatly. Her increased size and robotic appendages truly strike fear into the outclassed Dexter. He looks around him, the clouds zipping past as his entire world comes crashing down, no hope of success, before something happens-

A stray thunderbolt hits in between Dexter and Mandark as Drax and Elly cut them off from each other!

"Model M! You are supposed to be a benevolent god! What is all of this haphazard destruction?!" – "Dexter will die; I will have my revenge- and crush everything and everyone ever close to him! He will lose his entire world and I will stand here laughing as his still beating heart loses life in my very hands."

"M-Mandark...?! Why?!" Elly yells! "Mandark...? I AM NOT MANDARK, FOOLISH GIRL!" Bell and Mandark roar as they bash her away! Drax arms a heavy magma hammer and bats Model M away slightly, he foresees a counterattack and dodges surprisingly nimbly, running over to Elly to help her up.

"D-Drax... we... we can't fight Model M! This is what we worked for all our life!" – "This? THIS IS WHAT WE FOUGHT FOR?!" He yells as he points all around him, the city in the sky, broken, bathed in blood and falling. "We have to stop this fucking THING now! Dexter, help us out!"

Dexter, now sufficiently collected joins Elly and Drax to form a three man attack squad! Suddenly, it seems a little less hopeless. Mandark and Bell darts their eyes around, no longer so sure that his victory can come without a cost... before he feels someone behind him.

"Olga..." He purrs as she emerges from behind his shade. "ASTRO! Get away from that thing!" – "SHUT UP! I won't let you guys kill Susan! He is all I fought for! I will never let you take him away from me!" She yells as she draws her two weapons.

"Olga- that is not Mandark anymore! That is NOT your brother!" Dexter yells, desperately trying to talk sense into her. "SHUT UP! I will not let you poison my mind! Not when I'm so close!" She yells as her face armor closes.

Mandark charges down the three who all pile together to repel the godly attack! All of their metals shine, Dexter's gold accenting their orange and green well! Olga appears from the shadows and attacks Dexter, causing the defense to break! Elly flies him out of there before he is crushed by the attack as Drax rolls out himself.

They barely have time to regroup as the entire battlefield is coated in darkness. The terrifying prospect of being caught off guard from one of Model M's attacks is deep so they all stick together and keep their senses sharp. Many blades fly out from the shade, but Elly whips up a gust to blow them all away easily.

Drax slams his fist into the ground to erupt the entire plane in flame, blowing Olga away and revealing Mandark, who is falling from above! All three of them once again try to hold him off with their combined powers! Olga rises from the cinders and views the battle from the rubble- she sees the look in Mandark's eyes.

His pupils are gone... he has gone completely berserk! A battle rage the likes of which she has never seen before...

"Ha ha ha... HA HAHA HAHA!" Both Mandark and Bell laugh maniacally as they attack the guarding trio over and over again! Over three times their size and imbued with the purest power Model M can provide, they are losing their energy fast!

Olga slowly walks towards them, her face armor deactivating. "What are you doing girl...?!" Phantom whispers through her armor. "Is that... my brother?" – "What kind of question is that...?" She continues to walk towards her. "Stop, stupid girl!" – "Why? It almost sounds like you're scared. If that really IS my brother, no harm will come to us." She says as she continues to near him.

"Susan—AH!" She tries to say before she is smacked away, nearly shattering her armor in a single blow! She crashes into a wall and collapses to her knees, coughing up blood immediately. She looks back up at the battle.

"My... b-brother would... never... hit m-me..." She whispers- out of breath.

"My brother would never hit me." She says, climbing as if she were never struck.

"THAT. IS. NOT. MY. BROTHER!" She yells as she glows a deep purple! "Phantom! Grant me the next bit of power from our deal!" – "But- to use it against Model M! It goes against everything we agreed upon!" – "Do it now or I call it all off!" – "V-Very well... but be warned, this is your second one... your next is your last- then you are mine..."

The purple coloration swells with energy, as even Mandark seems to be affected. He looks over in awe of her energy! Olga stands there, exerting almost as much energy as Model M itself!

Everyone scrambles to Olga's side and they form a new attack formation! It's now four on one, with Olga on their side- victory seems assured! "Back off..." She says, to their surprise. "This fucking thing is mine." She says, tears in her eyes. Everyone backs away as she walks towards Model M with a kind of Righteous Indignation burning within her.

"Sister... you are foolish to think you can beat me..." Mandark and Bell hiss. "You are not my brother- I am not your sister... I am your executioner- MONSTER!" – "Big words, let's see if you can back it up!" He roars as he charges for her-

Only to have her charge first and appear behind him almost instantaneously- causing a sonic boom while she's at it. She musters all of her power into one attack and pours all of the energy into her hand.

"I was foolish to think you could be brought back this way... I'm so sorry Susan..." She says as she digs into Bell's spine with that one attack, ripping it clean out- causing a blood curdling scream to ripple through-out the entirety of Megaville!

And before anyone knew it... it was over... Model M slumps onto the ground and quickly loses energy and Olga walks away without saying another word.

"W-Wait! Astro!" Drax yells, trying to call her back. "There's nothing more to say. I'm... I'm..." She tries to say, tears still coursing down her face. "I'm going... home." She flies away leaving everyone behind.

(===Meanwhile===)

"We are going to hit the ground hard, but I think Megaville will be okay!" – "Okay... on the count of three- we all rush away at once..."

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three!" They all yell as they leave the underside of Megaville as it falls back into place, the power of which causes several buildings to collapse and forces mountains to fire up from the cracks around Megaville! Megaville has seen better days- that much is certain. The heat and pressure emanating from the invading mountains is great, but they should cool off in a few hours.

Dexter, Elly and Drax walk toward the broken heap that was once Model M. They know better than to let their guard down, but even then: None of them expected what was to come next-

"WHAT THE HELL- ARGH!" Drax yells out as something impales his back! "DRAX!" Elly says before iron tentacles burst from the pavement and smother her! Dexter chooses life over death and jumps away before he suffers the same fate! He looks on in horror as Elly and Drax are impaled and ripped apart by the once thought dead Model M.

"This... is not... the end... merely... a new... beginning..."

A deep voice booms from all around them, Model M still face first on the ground. The clouds once again churn, but this time they seem to coalesce into various shapes... and even change color!

The armor from Elly and Drax float over Model M... it rises as if nothing had happened- as if its very core wasn't ripped out. Bones explode out of Bell's back and combine with the two armors- orange and green and form some kind of energy wings! The corrupt iron and steel encompassing and invading her body once again become more pronounced as she grows in size once more, this time towering over a nearby building!

The Powerpuff Girls try to near her, but she emanates a shield made of pure energy that deters their every attempt.

"No, Powerpuffs. This time, it is truly a one on one. No more excuses, no more risks- just me and my murderer!" She and Mandark yell, the clouds above them shaping into what look like pictures! Memories of Mandark when he was fighting Dexter in his lab all those years ago!

Everyone looks up at the rainy sky at the fascinating yet terrifying display of power... A lightning bolt strikes and illuminates the battlefield- Dexter getting a good look at Model M's eyes. They seem to almost be filled with life this time.

"This is the end, Mandark! If this is how you want it to go down, then so be it! I will not let you win! I will put you in the ground and you will STAY there!" He yells, drawing his D-Saber. As he puts his hand on the weapon, he can feel something, like someone is guiding him.

He closes his eyes and feels it... Deedee... she is here with him, guiding his every movement. Model D... the last hope of the world. He shoots his eyes open with a newfound vigor burning within them!

He charges at the behemoth of a Model M head on! It summons tentacles of evil iron at him and he dances past them, blasting them off one by one as he nears his final goal.

"DIE DEXTER!" He continuously roars out, but Dexter pays it no mind- this battle isn't about them anymore... it's about the world and everyone within it. This is a battle Dexter cannot afford to lose. Knowing that, he knows he can win- even if he is alone- even if everyone other than him is completely helpless...

Is this his destiny? Is this what his whole life built up to? He continuously dodges and attacks the tentacles as he nears Model M, but he doesn't even think of the battle... he thinks of his family- his loved ones...

His parents... Dexter knows that due to the carnage- they are more than likely dead at this point... but it doesn't matter. He knows they are looking down on him. Deedee... even through death she is still teaching him the meaning of life...

"DIE DEXTER! JUST... DIE!"

Blossom is out there, looking in on him... he knows what she must be thinking. A more powerful version of something they couldn't beat before- and Dexter is taking it on one on one? He knows she must be thinking he's doomed, even though she knows she shouldn't think like that.

The rain falls around them, the memories in the sky almost crying out in pain as Bell's memories also become intertwined with Mandark's. Images of her father... Mandark's memories show images of Olga... Model M begins to stumble and weaken, before it refocuses-

"PETTY EMOTIONS! I DON'T NEED YOU!" He roars out as a thunderbolt splits the memories in half!

"G-Girls! We can help!" – "What, Blossom? How? We can't get through the shield." – "We have to talk to Bell... we have to make her come out! Emotions are weakening Model M! We have to do this or Dexter is doomed!"

Buttercup and Blossom seem at a loss, but Bubbles floats towards the shield.

"Bell... can you hear me?" She asks to no avail, as the giant machine of Red and Green wings continues to fight Dexter.

"You have to go home Bell... you have to go back to your dad... he must be worried sick." As she says that, a jolt of emotion crosses Model M's face, before it shakes it off.

"STOP IT!" – "Your father, X... he created you, his daughter... just like our dad created us. I know at some times he may have seemed strict... but he loves you Bell... if you stay here- or worse... die, you will make him really sad..."

Blossom and Buttercup stand in awe, her words are working... where did Bubbles learn all of this personal information...?

"D-DAD..." A giant voice escapes Model M's mouth as Dexter finally spots and opening to go in for the kill, but he doesn't... Deedee is no longer guiding him- as if... telling him to stop.

"Someone told me that you would go so far as to endanger your own life for him. And I know deep down, he would do the same. What about Gir? Bell... you have to go home... you must be so tired..." – "I... I AM... I JUST WANT... TO GO HOME..."

The memories choke the sky, flooding everything within sight with visions of Dr. X, Gir and even Mandark.

"Please Bell, resist this energy Model M is filling you with... bring down the shield and let us help you." After Bubbles says that, the shield almost immediately goes down and they all near Model M, who seems all but pacified.

Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup and Dexter all near the paralyzed giant.

"IT HURTS... SO MUCH..." Both Mandark and Bell say, surprising Dexter. "PLEASE... I CAN'T HOLD THIS DARK ENERGY OFF ANYMORE... JUST... PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY... I'M... SO TIRED..." – "Okay Bell... we will... just... close your eyes..." Bubbles says, tears growing in her eyes. Even Buttercup seems a little choked up.

Model M's giant iron eyes close as the rain begins to pick up, nearly blinding. The very heavens cry out in sadness. Everyone charges their attacks at once and combine them into one source. Dexter holds it as his D-Saber absorbs the energy and glows a brilliant white color. Dexter can feel Deedee guiding him again...

'Do it Dexter... let their suffering end... please...'

Dexter walks towards the quivering giant, very reluctant to do anything with this divine weapon. He raises it above himself, looking at the memories swirling around the battlefield. The buildings around him shattered and fallen, Lynn and the civilians looking on in awe. The sun is starting to rise again...

"Good night... Bell... Mandark..." He says as he swings the giant blade down as hard as he possibly can, engulfing Model M in a brilliant white light!

Pillars of light permeate the fallen city. The memories swirl around and are absorbed into Model M. Dexter can feel a warm energy permeate him.

'Thank you, Dexter...'

The light dies down and all that remains are a few black crystals and a mangled body. Dexter walks over. It's... Bell... her body is torn and bruised. Her face still wet with tears. Wires and cables spill out from every appendage, she doesn't even look human anymore.

Lynn walks out from shelter to meet them all. To everyone's surprise, she goes right for Bell and picks her up. Before anyone asks- she speaks up.

"I know what to do with her. I know the perfect place for her to rest..." Is all she says as she begins to walk north through the ruins of Megaville, towards the mountains. Everyone follows her, including the Powerpuff Girls, but Dexter stays behind. Blossom looks behind her.

"Dexter... you coming?" – "Yeah... give me a second. There's something I... have to do first." – "Oh... okay." She says as she walks off with everyone else.

Dexter can feel something. The opposite of being guided... it feels so strange... it's like someone is telling him to stay, to not do anything. He feels a power nearby; it is immense, yet at the same time... almost comforting...

He turns around.

"Mandark..." He says, viewing the person standing amidst the crystals. A man, taller than Dexter with Black Hair and Golden Armor looks at the sun as it rises. His armor is glorious... with angelic accents and is seemingly made of solid gold. He is giving off such a strong aura, much stronger than that of the Model M he just fought- and that's saying something.

"Is this it, Mandark? Are you finally back? Are we finally going to settle this once and for all?" Dexter says, fiddling with his Saber.

"Back..." Mandark whispers, flexing his hands before frowning. "Not quite... now is not my time..." He looks at the city. The smoldering ruins and the terrified people within it who are all walking away, not looking back.

"This is not what I wanted..." – "Come again?" – "Dexter... I don't want this. This is wrong." He says, turning to Dexter. Dexter doesn't know how to treat this situation... Mandark is his enemy: He just tried to kill him twice- and so many innocents had to die to get this far... but Dexter almost feels like he's talking to a friend.

"What 'did' you want?" – "A world within the light..." Dexter's eyes go wide. "L-Like Micheal?" – "Yes, Dexter." Dexter seems amazed, but shakes his head-

"What are you anyway?" – "What do you mean?" Mandark asks, turning completely around to look Dexter in his eyes.

"Are you really Mandark? Or are you... whatever Model M is?" Mandark chuckles a small bit. "What's so funny?" – "You're so close minded... why can it only be one or the other?" – "Wh-What?"

"No, I am not Model M... but..." He stops as he flexes his hands again. "I am also not Mandark... as I said- it is not my time. Not yet. But there is something I have to tell you, Dexter." – "And that is?"

"Surely you can feel my immense power... you know that I can take my revenge on you now and you would be dead before you even felt any pain..." Dexter looks away, the truth of his words obvious.

"But I didn't come here to kill you, Dexter. I came here to ask for your help." – "M-My help...?! You? Asking ME for help?" – "My sister... she is lost right now... the Knights are all dead... she is alone..." He says, turning back to look at the rainy sunrise.

"I'm afraid... no. I know she is going to do something drastic... and at the end of it, she will completely lose herself. Dexter... I want you to look after her." – "What? Wh-Why me?" – "You are the only one I can trust with this. I have felt your love for your sister... when your blade struck Model M, with your energy within it- with HER energy within it... Dexter... I am dead. I can no longer protect my own sister. But you can."

He turns around with a melancholy expression as Dexter feels a strange energy.

"Please... she... she's innocent- all she wants is her brother back, she's so misguided... and I'm afraid that she could die from this. I don't want her to die for me, Dexter. I don't want this." After he says that, his energy begins to fade away, his feet crackling away into pure light.

"M-MANDARK!" Dexter yells, worried. "Don't worry about me Dexter. Worry about what you have to go through." – "Wh-What?" – "The War of the Chronometals has only just begun. Even though Micheal and the other two Knights are dead, where have their armors gone? They still live on, Dexter. They will try to bring me back again- maybe even with Olga's help..."

"But... you don't want that, do you?" – "No. Neither do you, I hope." He says as his legs also start to flash away into light. "What do I do, Mandark? What CAN I do? I'm... I'm just one person..." – "You can do this, Dexter. You and you alone can save this world. But there is one other person who thinks she can save it- but her involvement will doom it."

"What? Who?" – "Blossom." – "Wh-What?!" Mandark's torso begins to crackle away into pure energy, there is not much time left to talk.

"Listen, Dexter- and listen carefully. There isn't time left for me to repeat myself, or for you to ask questions- just listen." Dexter nods. Mandark smiles as his body is almost completely gone.

"I know you love her- she loves you too- but she cannot become involved in these wars. She will die, you will die... the whole world will die. You have to keep her out of this. If you love her... you will shun her. You will send her away- you will make her hate you- you will make her leave, never to come back. It will hurt, Dexter- I know... but there is no other choice. You have to do this." Mandark is almost entirely gone. Only his head remains, even it begins to fade away into light.

"The sleeping Ark has been awakened... I can feel it..."

Mandark completely vanishes into thin air, leaving Dexter in the center of Megaville. The center of the crash.

In the center of the new tomb finished only a few weeks ago, Lynn places Bell's body into an above ground grave of sorts. She closes her in and everyone pays their respects. They leave the crypt, but not before Lynn places a sign above the door.

'Tomb of the Chronometal Wars.'

Everyone looks into the sunrise across the Horizon of Megaville.

"Megaville is wrecked... I haven't seen a city this broken since Townsville." Bubbles lets out. "Yeah, maybe we should get the Townsville committee to help us repair." Buttercup jokingly responds, before pondering it further.

"Actually... that's not a bad idea..."

And so the end of the early days of innocence comes to a close forever. From here on, the world will live in perpetual fear. Model M was stopped... for now... but the Biosymbiotes are nowhere to be found- and what of Olga? Countless people lost their lives this day- and Megaville will never be the same.

Even the most optimistic of us question the future of this broken world. Is this an omen of end times? Or merely a byproduct of a malignant civilization? Neither road is good, but when the time comes, we will be walking down one of them; maybe both. But that is a story and a journey for another time.

For now... our heroes deserve a little rest and reflection. No-one from any corner of this engagement has come out better than they went in- even Olga has lost everything... to gain nothing. Countless children have lost their parents... Dexter hesitates to check up on his own...

Is there such this as a happy ending? Or is Catastrophe the only certainty?

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _And that, more or less, is all of the events of the First War. The First War wasn't totally overcome by time travel shenanigans like the Second War was, but was still good. The Second War is almost upon us, but we actually have one sub story to cover before we move on, and that's one of my favorite sub-stories called "A Trip to Townsville." Taking place entirely from Buttercup and Bubbles' point of view, and covers Buttercup's complicated situation involving Him. That is next, after this. Hope you enjoyed._


	9. Before War 2: A Trip to Townsville

The Chronometal Wars  
-A Trip to Townsville-

What could only be called 'The Crash' is over. It's been over for several hours now. The surviving people scramble to find any of their loved ones as the city still lay in smoldering ruin, almost nothing left usable.

"Man... this sucks..." Buttercup exclaims, sitting on the ledge of a broken building aside Bubbles. "Yeah... this place is ruined." She sadly says, Buttercup knowing it's not the city that has Bubbles down; it's the people within it.

"I think we can get this place fixed." – "But that would take years..." – "Well, there's a union of workers who are specialized in demolished cities." Buttercup says with a grin on her face. "W-Wait, you mean... you're actually going to go back to Townsville?" – "Not just me, want to come along?" – "Y-Yes! Yes I do! It's been a while; I can't wait to see our old friends!"

Buttercup stands up, the mid-day sun just starting to go down. Bubbles also stands up, but asks a question: "What about Blossom?" – "I think she's fine here with Dexter... dang lovebirds." Buttercup spits, still kind of uncomfortable. "You still don't like Dexter that much, do you?" Bubbles prods. Buttercup thinks to herself a bit before actually smiling.

"Actually? I think he's alright. He's shown to be a very tough fighter. Hell, if it wasn't for him- I don't think we could have stopped... whatever the hell that was a while ago." Bubbles smiles and laughs. "I'm glad to hear you've finally warmed up to him! It will make it that much easier when he's our brother in law!" Buttercup recoils and blushes-

"Woah, hey! I said he's ALRIGHT not 'I'm comfortable with him marrying Blossom'!" Bubbles laughs and flies away, leaving a flustered Buttercup behind. Buttercup growls. "Stupid Bubbles... sheesh..."

They both fly off and meet up at the ruined yard of the Powerpuff residence, already seemingly under reconstruction. "Whoa, what's all this?" Buttercup asks Blossom as she lands. Blossom scratches the back of her head as she looks over to all of the people repairing the house and yard.

"Well... I told them it was fine and all, but they insisted on fixing our house- because... you know... saving their lives and city and all..." Bubbles and Buttercup look over to the people, Bubbles slightly amazed.

"Wow... after all that happened, they are still working to rebuild? After all the people who got... y-you know... and they are still trying to move on? They are so brave..." – "Yeah, these people remind me of Townsville, believe it or not." Blossom responds.

"About that..." Buttercup interjects. "Bubbles and I were actually going to head down to Townsville to get people to help rebuild Megaville. I figure they owe us a favor or twenty. Uh... you want to come along?" – "Thanks, but Dexter and I are going to stay here and plan everything out... and he's been acting really strange all of a sudden." Blossom says with a puzzled expression.

"I don't blame him... I'm still very uncomfortable with how this all turned out." Bubbles responds. "I think we all are." Buttercup says with a pained expression, before shaking it off. "Well, time's a wasting. C'mon, let's get going!" She says to Bubbles as she fires off. "How long are you guys going to be gone?" – "Shouldn't be any longer than a few days. A hero's work is never done!" – "Haha, true... good bye Bubbles!" – "Bye Blossom!" Bubbles yells as they wave to each other, Bubbles flying away.

They meet up in the air, flying past clouds and looking at the ground below. "Wow..." Bubbles exclaims, pointing down. Buttercup also looks down and wears the same expression.

"Whoa..." A giant pile of deactivated flying robots all piled up outside, only a few miles from the neighboring city. "We really cut it close, didn't we?" – "You got that right. If that fight kept going, these robots could have made it into that city." Buttercup and Bubbles cringe at the possibility of what could have happened if they got in without the people being prepared. "Come on, let's keep going." – "Wait, look at that!" She yells, pointing to a burning building.

Bubbles flies down without Buttercup's consent! "Bub-... bah, damn it!" She stammers before following her into the city.

(Bubbles and Buttercup spend the rest of the day in the city, realizing that even though the robots never quite made it in, the people were still very affected- especially by their long range attacks. The people are very thankful for the work they put into the city to help them. By the next sunrise they take to the sky once more.)

"Well that was one hell of a detour." – "Well, they needed our help." – "Help? It was more of a hero's ceremony. They spent half the day praising us- and while I'm not against getting my dues, we have a bigger problem to solve." – "I know, I know..." – "Look, I'm not mad, Bubbles. But if we stop for every little thing, it could take us weeks before we got the committee to Megaville!"

Still flying in the air, Buttercup calms down a great deal and reflects on what just happened. "It felt nice to be treated like a hero again, it's been a while." – "Too long. There are so many other heroes in Megaville that it doesn't really feel like we are being appreciated, you know?" Bubbles responds with. It was a rather somber question.

"Remember how happy the people of Townsville were when we saved them day after day?" – "Yeah, haha... remember that time they took us for granted and we stopped being a hero for a day?" – "HA! Yeah, I do! I'm sure they appreciated us every bit more after that." They both give a contented sigh, reminiscing about old times as they continue zipping past the clouds.

"Hard to believe that was over eight years ago..."

(Several hours pass and the sun has reached its peak height.)

"I'm thirsty..." Bubbles exclaims. "Yeah, I could go for a drink. Come on, let's stop by this shanty town real quick."

They both land in a pretty rural town in the middle of the scrub-land. The people stare at them, people who just fell out of the sky and walked into the local store. They pick out some drinks from the fridge as someone walks up to them.

"Are... are you two the Powerpuff Girls?" A little boy asks Buttercup. "Yeah, we are. Why?" – "I heard about you guys on the TV! You guys saved that city! You're heroes!" Buttercup blushes a small bit. "Yeah- yeah I guess we are. Always nice to uh, meet a fan!" The kid runs away smiling to his dad saying all the way- "I met heroes! I met heroes!" Bubbles and Buttercup take their drinks to the counter and rummage in their pockets for money.

"No charge, girls. All on the house thanks for what you did down there." – "Oh, thanks!" – "Thank you!" They both exclaim as they walk out of the store with smiles on their faces. On the outside, the fresh air hits their face and Buttercup takes a deep breath. "Oh yeah, I could get used to this again..." They fly back into the sky, looking down at the people waving and cheering for them once again. They continue flying for Townsville.

(Several more hours pass, the sun has started to set.)

Buttercup yawns and shakes her head as they continue to fly through the clouds. "Are you tired?" – "Nah, nah... I'm fine for a few more hours..." – "You look very tired..." – "I'm... f-fine, okay?" She says, shaking her head. "Okay... maybe I'm a little tired..." She chuckles. "I see a hotel down there on the outskirts of this town. Come on, let's sleep the day off." Bubbles insists as she drags Buttercup down who is no longer objecting- and is instead yawning all the way to the ground.

Bubbles takes their packed money out and uses it to pay for a one night stay in a moderately cushy room, still holding Buttercup by the wrist. She seems to be completely clocked out.

They enter the room and Bubbles sits Buttercup down on the first bed.

"Are... you okay?" – "Y-Yeah, just a bit tired. I... didn't get any sleep last night." – "What? I slept like a rock! You mean to tell me that you flew two entire days without any sleep?!" – "Look, I had a lot on my mind... I don't think I'll get any sleep tonight either..."

Bubbles looks worried as she sits by Buttercup, who is looking down at the floor, deep in thought. She looks so tired, but her mind won't let her sleep.

"What are you thinking about?" Bubbles asks. Buttercup just shakes her head. "It's nothing, okay? I'll try to get some sleep. Please don't worry about me." – "Oh... o-okay..." She says, still worried as she gets up and walks to her own bed.

"Good night, Buttercup." – "Good night..." Bubbles turns all the lights out and covers up, which makes Buttercup remember something.

"Remember when you couldn't sleep without a nightlight...?" – "Yeah... remember when you constantly punched in your sleep?" – "Ha, I think I still do it... I keep waking up and finding strange holes in the wall."

They laugh the nostalgia filled night away as Buttercup finally feels comfortable to let her eyes shut without her thoughts poisoning her mind, but they creep into her dreams...

'I'm worried about Blossom...'  
'Dexter is acting very strange... I think it's getting to her.'  
'I don't think he said a single word to any of us since what happened...'  
'He's always looking in random directions, deep in his own stupid thoughts...'  
'Give me a break, Dexter. We were all there; we all experienced what happened... didn't we?'  
'I think so. So suck it up already, pansy. Be strong, be a man...'  
'Don't let my sister down or so help me God...'

(A full Buttercup-esque 11 hour night of hard sleep later...)

She yawns and stretches, getting that 48 hour adventure out of her bones and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She hasn't slept that good in years. She smacks her lips and looks around the room, noticing Bubbles isn't here. It's raining a bit outside, the sound of it almost lulls her back to sleep, but she's up for good it seems.

"Huh... wonder here she went." She says to herself. She sits on the bed, her feet touching the floor and looks over to the bathroom. "Man, I slept in my clothes... I need a shower." She walks up and enters the bathroom and starts the shower. She starts removing her clothing as she notices something on the sink counter.

"A note?" She says to herself. She picks it up and reads the top.

-To Buttercup.  
From:  
The Kidnapper-

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" She yells, putting her clothes back on and reading it further.

"If you want Bubbles to live: come to Townsville: TODAY. The ruins of Mojo's Lab. Tell no-one of what you read here or why you are coming to Townsville. Come alone. Come ready. Destroy the note: I will know if you left a paper trail or not- and that won't be good for Bubbles."

"Who the... what the... fuck..." She stammers, absolutely stunned. She crumples up the note and burns it with her laser vision, making sure not to leave a paper trail.

She looks over to the clock on the wall. It's just about 7:00 AM. The sun is coming up, but the rain makes it seem dark outside. She runs out of the building without saying anything, zipping and dodging all of the people in the halls!

She fires off into the sky as fast as she possibly can! The rain hits her face, but she is not blinded by it. She bursts through the morning sky without a second thought in her mind other than:

"Please be okay..."

She goes so fast, she nearly blinds herself to the world around her, before she realizes she's lost. She lands and talks to random people asking for directions to Townsville.

She does this several times across the span of several hours, as she can't seem to stay on course; she isn't paying attention to the world, only the goal. As if the entire world is a blank canvas, the only thing with color is Townsville...

She flies and flies, but she hears something off in the distance... something like a woman screaming and a monster howling! She instinctually starts to go for the noise, but she looks at the sun. Is it really starting to set again?! She hesitates, huffing through clenched teeth as the screaming continues.

"Fuck... I'm so sorry!" She says under her breath as she ignores the screaming and continues to Townsville. She feels a deep pain in her chest... she probably just let someone die... She begins to cry as she flies faster and faster, the pain- excruciating.

As she flies on, she hears gunshots... howling... screaming... yelling... she ignores it all. Every little thing. People who need a hero won't find one in her, not right now.

"Who could have done this?!" She thinks to herself. "Mojo's Lab? What is Mojo? Could a giant monkey sneak into a hotel and snatch away a superhero? I don't think so... what about Him? He's the root of all evil. He could easily have done this- but then why leave a note? Why not something more personal? Was it the Gangrene Gang? No... Same problem as Mojo... Who? WHO?!"

The sun sets, but the rain picks up... almost blinding Buttercup... but she gets some solace...

The horizon... it's the Observatory! It's Mojo's lab! Townsville!

She lands on the outskirts, remembering that she isn't supposed to be followed or not to tell anyone why she's here. She has to sneak into Townsville... if anyone sees her they would likely call attention to her. After all: She's a Powerpuff Girl.

She can't go in from the air. Too many searchlights tonight. Townsville is smart, evil could come from anywhere- it's always prepared.

She nears the city limit and notices a homeless person on the street. He looks up to her and she gets an idea. She takes all of the money out of her pocket, an amount roughly equal to $300 and gives it to him. He seems ecstatic, but she wants something in return.

"I want your coat." He happily nods and gives it to her before skipping off. She has no time to feel good about herself. She has to save Bubbles. She puts on the coat and every part of her that screamed hero is gone in an instant.

She runs down the wet, puddle strewn streets of Townsville, dodging people and making sure not to make eye contact. She looks at a clock... 11:40. Twenty minutes until tomorrow...!

She runs down as fast as she can while still blending in, running a red light and having someone spit obscenities at her. She nears the center with mere minutes left on the clock. She runs up the tower as fast as she can, before she notices a searchlight is about to see her.

She takes off the trench coat and flies the rest of the way up the staircase and enters the building. Every light is on to her surprise. It seemed completely dark from the outside.

She walks in before she begins to run through the doorways into the central lab. When she bursts through the door, she meets a sight that both relieves and terrifies her.

Bubbles... But attached to a strange machine!

A strange being walks into view of both of them, Bubbles seemingly hysterical, needles so close to her skin she can feel it. He looks human, but his entire face is covered in a cloth. His skin is slightly metallic and has a faint orange pigmentation.

"WELCOME, BUTTERCUP. TAKE A SEAT IN THAT CHAIR OVER THERE AND I WILL MAKE YOUR DEATHS PAINLESS." – "As if! Give me back Bubbles and I promise I won't give you more than a couple dozen broken bones!" – "YOU ARE IN NO POSITION TO BARGAIN, WEAKLING." – "Weak?! What did you say?!" – "YOUR SISTER, BLOSSOM IS NOW THE STRONGEST, BY FAR. YOU ARE WEAK." – "What are you talking about?!"

The being flips a switch as giant monitors activate all around the room. Images of Blossom and a giant white explosion cascading across the outskirts of Megaville- which seems to be repairing itself surprisingly fast.

Once the explosion dies down, both Bubbles and Buttercup can see a being walk out of the crater. It's Blossom! But... she looks weird... she has white hair and white armor... kind of like what Dexter was wearing a while ago...

"Is... Is that a-" – "A CHRONOMETAL, YES. YOUR SISTER HAS TAPPED INTO ITS TRUE POTENTIAL AND IS NOW A BEACON OF POWER- WHILE YOU AND BUBBLES ARE MERELY... TWO BIT HEROES." He hisses through the cloth.

"She's... the strongest...?" – "YES." He says as he nearly teleports to Buttercup and grabs her by the throat. "AND YOU ARE WEAK, HELPLESS. I WILL MAKE YOU WATCH AS I INJECT BUBBLES WITH- THIS!" He holds up a phial of strange liquid, it says- Antidote X. "SHE WILL BE HUMAN... THEN SHE WILL DIE- AND YOU WILL WATCH!"

"N-NO!" Buttercup yells and squirms, but he is overpowering her. He turns her around and forces her to look at Bubbles as a needle goes into her skin! She is bound and muffled so she can't scream! "NO! DAMN IT!" Buttercup yells as she fires her eye vision at the injection device, breaking the first phial!

The man growls and throws her to the side, causing her to crash through multiple objects and break others. He forgot she could do that... Before he gets another chance to speak, she fires out of the wreckage and hits him in the head as hard as she can, but all it does is knock the cloth off and hurt her leg severely!

She falls to the ground and grabs her leg before he once again picks her up, this time with both hands. She squirms to get free as she looks at his face.

"Wait a minute... are you...?!" – "THE DREAD DRAGON! BUT I AM MORE NOW... WITH THE POWER OF THIS NEW LIFE THE KNIGHTS GAVE ME, I AM IMMORTAL!" He roars as he squeezes her with all his might, causing bones to snap and her to let out a blood curdling scream! Bubbles tries with all of her might to fight out of the chair, but it's made out of Nano-Steel! She can't break free! She can only look in horror as her sister is crushed to death!

"FINALLY, I CAN FINISH WHAT I STARTED ALL THOSE YEARS AGO! DIE, PATHETIC WORM! MODEL D-2 REIGNS SUPREME!" He roars as he squeezes her harder and harder, his iron face contorting into a toothy smile.

"That's MY pathetic worm!" A deep angry voice booms across the lab, before a red energy smacks Model D-2 into the wall and through it. Buttercup falls to her knees, barely conscious and coughing up blood. She looks up, but her vision is so blurry she can't make anything out, only a faint red coloration. She passes out on the ground.

Bubbles' eyes go wide at her savior, but she can't say anything completely bound and gagged like this.

"YOU...! WHY ARE YOU HELPING THEM?!" – "Come now, you said it yourself: They are helpless. What's the fun in killing a defenseless target? Pick on someone your own size!" The red man playfully exclaims as he enters a battle stance!

Chronometal D-2: The Dread Dragon charges the man down and they engage in a battle of brute strength! They both try to overpower one another, neither giving an inch! The Dragon's large maw attempts to bite down on the Man's shoulder, but the man's own shoulder morphs into a kind of carnivorous maw itself!

Claw and claw, fang and fang, power and power! They constantly match each others strength to the man's surprise.

"EVEN HIM SHUDDERS AT THE POWER OF THE CHRONOMETALS!" – "So... this is a... Chronometal... F-Fascinating...! So powerful...!" Him lets out, barely able to keep the Dragon at Bay.

A small amount of red energy escapes him and enters Buttercup. She coughs up blood and regains consciousness shortly after, barely able to stand up. She gasps and wheezes as she finally gets a good look at the person who's helping!

"H-Him...?!" – "Don't just stand there stupid girl, help your sister!" – "NOT TODAY!" The Dread Dragon roars as he overpowers Him and throws him to the side before he engages Buttercup who is in no position to do anything!

Before he bites down, a deep red mist enters Buttercup and she feels as good as new somehow! Without questioning it, she uses her hands to hold the top and bottom jaws in place! "This... power...!" She says to herself. "GRAHHH!" She roars as she twists the Dragon's Head and forces him to collapse on the ground. She runs as fast as she can to Bubbles who seems to be tied up rather nicely.

Bubbles tries to mutter something about it being 'unbreakable' as Buttercup completely decimates the machine and carries her out without so much as any effort. As Bubbles goes free, red mist fades from Buttercup and Him is on the ground, panting.

"Are you okay?" – "NEVER LET YOUR GUARD DOWN, GIRL!" He yells as he points to the Dread Dragon, charging them all down! Him can't move and Bubbles thinks that retreat is the best option from this attack!

"Hold him off!" – "What?!" – "Him can't run! We need to help Him! HOLD HIM OFF!" – "O-Okay...!" Bubbles reluctantly agrees. They both muster every bit of strength they can find to hold of the rampaging Chronometal! He is so much stronger than them, but Buttercup is fighting with everything she has, as if she were fighting to save Him as if he were family...! This caring protective demeanor she is wearing inspires Bubbles to do the same! They both somehow manage to force him back a few feet!

Him takes a breath and rises to his feet again, his power somewhat restored. "Him, good to see you back to nor-" Buttercup tries to say as the Dread Dragon's Maw crunches down on her! Only her bottom half is dangling out as it overpowers Bubbles and throws her through a wall, causing much of the lab to come down around them!

"N-No!" Him stutters, finding himself protective of Buttercup! He rushes for the Model D-2 and bashes her out of his mouth and then musters whatever strength he has left to blast him away, even for a moment!

"Buttercup! ANSWER ME STUPID GIRL!" He says as she shakes her limp body. Her body is mangled and punctured... she's... dead...

"No... Not today my Buttercup, you saved my life... now I shall return the favor!" He says as he forms into a shape of pure energy and enters her body. Her stopped heart lay still...

Her brain is not giving off any signals...

Her lungs refuse to fill with breath...

But then... all of a sudden... her bones snap into place and she gives off the biggest gasp of her life! Her clothes turn from green to brown and she is hyperventilating, unsure of how to react as she views the exploding ceiling from the floor. She hears Bubbles scream and she immediately rushes to her feet!

He is about to bite down on her which makes Buttercup's eyes go wide! She jumps at him and retracts her fist as far as she can!

"FUCK

YOOOOOOUUUU!" She yells as loud as she can as she puts all of her power and then some into a single attack, completely blowing the Dragon's head clean off and causing an explosion to blow them all away!

The battle finally goes into a calm...

Buttercup, although recently killed and completely blown away by the attack, finds herself perfectly able to get up after this attack. She looks around and sees Bubbles on the ground. Before she goes to her, she nears the Chronometal on the ground. She musters her strength and smashes it to pieces. Then she runs over to her and makes sure she is okay. She turns her over and looks into her eyes.

"Are you okay, Bubbles?" – "Yeah... I'm... f-fine..." She says, weakly as Buttercup's clothes fade from brown back to green. Buttercup helps Bubbles to her feet and they turn around to leave this forsaken place.

Him is standing by the door. They near him and Bubbles is the first to talk.

"Th-Thank you..." She says simply before leaving the room. Buttercup stays however- looking into Him's eyes. "What is it, girl?" – "Thank you so much, Him." She says with a big smile on her face, making him almost feel uncomfortable.

"D-Don't mention it... but uh, thanks for what?" – "For what? You saved my life! You gave me the power to save my sister! But... if you don't mind me asking... why? Why did you save us? I mean- I thank you from the bottom of my heart... but... why?"

Him looks away, almost blushing. "W-Well... because you are all MINE to kill, not his. And besides, Blossom isn't here. It wouldn't be fair otherwise." Buttercup's head cocks to one side and she wears a half forced smile.

"Is that REALLY why? It can't be... you risked your own skin to save me." – "And you risked your life to save mine..." – "Yeah... I guess I did, didn't I?"

"Buttercup, you coming?" Bubbles yells from outside. Buttercup frowns and turns to the door.

"I guess this is goodbye again..." She walks away in a somber mood. "Wait, why do you seem so sad about this? I'm evil! Don't be sad that you're leaving me, stupid girl!" – "Oh, it's not that... it's just..." She looks at the floor. A broken phial in her vision. It reminds her of how powerless she just felt.

"When you gave me that power... I felt so in control... before then I was feeling so helpless. He was going to kill Bubbles in front of me... he was going to kill me in front of Bubbles... neither of us could do anything... and to top it all off, apparently Blossom is gaining a new kind of strength back home. I feel like I can't do anything to protect us anymore..."

"Oh... I see..." – "But when you gave me that power...!" Buttercup says, looking into Him's eyes with tears growing in her own. "I felt like I could conquer the fucking world! I saved my sister and for the first time in such a long time I felt like I could actually protect the ones I loved, with my own two hands! Him..." She says, still deeply looking into his eyes- but this time he doesn't relent.

"What would it take for me to have more of this power? Your power? The power to protect my sisters?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** _And THIS is the end of the First War. This part bridges the gap between the First and Second Wars, explains Buttercup's situation, and also explains what Buttercup and Bubbles were doing by the time the Second War was going on. This trip of theirs took about 2 days, and you will see Bubbles and Buttercup's return in the Second War in about that time as well. Thanks for reading!_

 _Just remember, most of the other stories are rated M, which means you will have to change your filter, or check my account to see them.  
_


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